COLUMBUS, Ohio — A group of demonstrators, about 20-30 of whom were armed, some protesting the election results, converged at the Ohio Statehouse Sunday where they were encountered by some counterprotesters, but the group with the biggest presence was law enforcement.
Hundreds of Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers, National Guardsmen, and other officers were positioned all around the Statehouse and the downtown corridor, which they will continue to protect through the inauguration.
Just three days before President-Elect Joe Biden is sworn in, some Trump supporters came out to protest the fairness of the presidential election.
“This movement is not going to die out just because his presidency is slash slash over or hashtag over. This movement is going to continue, and you have real people, who for once, are being heard,” said a supporter of the president who declined to give his name.
A group calling themselves the “downtowners” has been coming to the statehouse to protest police brutality since May.
Member of the downtowners, DeJuan Sharp, says other groups being present would not deter him from coming out to make change.
“We’re not scared of them,” he said. “We’re peaceful, but we’re not scared of them. This is our country just as much as anybody else’s country, we have just as much right to be here too.”
One of the demonstrators, “Cablebox,” said his group came with peaceful intentions.
Speaking to the crowd on a megaphone, an organizer of the demonstration Henry Locke, said the state wasted millions of taxpayer dollars sending hundreds of authorities to respond to a contained demonstration.
“Look at the millions of taxpayer dollars that they’re wasting. We’re people that have never had any inkling of violence. Millions of dollars have been wasted today,” he said.
The city’s downtown bus routes have been redirected, and the mayor closed the downtown City Hall campus on Tuesday and Wednesday. DeWine said Thursday the Statehouse would be closed until after the inauguration.Columbus is just one of the cities that was targeted by demonstrators this weekend. The FBI said there were concerns about possible armed demonstration at all 50 state capitals through the inauguration.
The national group is known for wearing Hawaiian shirts.
A member of the Boogaloo Boys, who goes by “cablebox,” said his group came armed and ready if there was unrest, but he said his intentions were peaceful. He said he was concerned they would need to intervene if Antifa began clashing with Trump supporters.
“We were anticipating a lot of presence from very negatively oriented groups,” he said. “We expected a lot of right wingers to come and stomp their feet and raise a bunch of hell. And then the ensuing counter protesters can also feel the need to clash here.”
Cablebox said his group does not identify with “Stop the steal.” He said while they came with guns to Statehouse they were armed for defensive reasons only. “We did not come here with the goal to storm the capital building, we did not come here to raise our guns in defiance of current political choices,” he said. “The people have spoken, the election was the way it was.”
After social media platforms have deplatformed conservative accounts, including many that made false posts about election fraud, Cablebox said it is a bit harder to communicate. But with encrypted messaging apps, chat tools like Discord, and walkie talkies, his group is managing, he said.
Law enforcement outnumbered the demonstrators on Sunday.
Mayor Andrew Ginther issued multiple warnings last week that armed demonstrators could show up at the Statehouse, and local and state elected officials made a plea for counterprotesters to stay home, which seemed to work for the most part.“We can’t give these folks the oxygen. We can’t interact with them picking dumb fights,” City Council President Shannon Harding said during the mayor’s news conference Friday.
“Some of the groups that were organizing have been considered hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center by their definition; others are identified as paramilitary insurrectionists, so all groups that we’re very concerned about,” Ginther said.
An armed speaker who took the megaphone Sunday and identified himself as “anonymous” said he is calling for unity.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re antifa, it doesn’t matter if you’re a MAGA, it doesn’t matter what you assign yourself to politically, it’s time that we join together, join hands,” he said.
Ohio State Highway Patrol unit practiced formations on Saturday.
The Statehouse area has seen a massive law enforcement presence for days. A fence was erected around the Statehouse on Friday.
Dozens of National Guard members were seen entering a downtown building across from the Statehouse Saturday at 12 p.m. Multiple armored military vehicles were parked in the rear of the building. On Saturday around 8 a.m., a unit of Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers were practicing a formation around the William McKinley Memorial in front of the Statehouse. Dozens of troopers were also patrolling the steps of the Statehouse. The building is surrounded with fencing, and its windows are boarded up.
Officials said protecting people is the top priority. Protecting property is their second priority.
“We will not allow hate, violence and destruction to be part of our city,” Ginther said Friday. “We are taking every measure together to ensure the safety of our residents and the protection of our institutions.”
“The Ohio State Highway Patrol will be out in force in Columbus, and the Ohio National Guard will be out in force in Columbus,” DeWine said.
According to the governor, hundreds of National Guardsmen have been activated in Ohio, and around 1,000 more members are in Washington, D.C.Ohio authorities are coordinating their response with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, Ginther said.
Dressed in camouflage and carrying magazines, demonstrators said they were prepared if they needed to fight.
“What we saw on the Capitol is not who we are as a country. It’s unacceptable. It was a vile demonstration of the worst elements of our society that we cannot ignore and we must root out and guard against,” Ginther said.
Division of Police Chief Thomas Quinlan said after the Jan. 6 Capitol protests, militias and hate groups may have determined Washington, D.C. will be too heavily prepared for it to be worth going. Demonstrators might turn their focus to state capitals thinking they are easier targets, he said.
“They’re hoping to find a weakness somewhere else. We’re not going to allow that to happen here,” Quinlan said.
He said law enforcement will try to protect anyone who comes to participate in demonstrations, but he is highly discouraging going near the Statehouse until after the inauguration.
“If you choose to come down and participate, we will do everything we can to protect you in doing so. But there are people, bad actors who try to infiltrate that group, and will try to exploit that group anonymity to try to engage in unlawful activities,” Quinlan said.
National Guardsmen enter a downtown building adjacent to the Statehouse on Saturday.
Rep. Joyce Beatty, who represents Central Ohio, recalled her experience in Washington last week when a mob stormed the Capitol and delayed Congress from certifying the election results.
“I was there barricaded in my office with young professionals in the beginning of their career, frightened, panicked, crying, huddled together on the floor under a wood desk, trying to put chairs up to the door,” she said.
Beatty said hate and intimidation cannot and will not be welcome in Columbus in the coming days.
“Columbus, Ohio is sending a message to our community that we will not tolerate this,” she said.
