5 March 2021 08:57 am
WASHINGTON (Reuters), 4 March, 2021-Security has been tightened around the US Capitol in Washington - scene of a deadly assault in January - after police warned that a militia group might try to attack it on Thursday, an important day in the calendar for some pro-Trump conspiracy theorists.
March 4 is the day when believers in the baseless QAnon conspiracy have claimed that former President Donald Trump, defeated by President Joe Biden in the Nov. 3 election, will be sworn in for a second term in office. March 4 is the date when US presidents were inaugurated until 1933. An unidentified group of “militia violent extremists” discussed plans in February to “take control of the US Capitol and remove Democratic lawmakers on or about March 4,” according to a bulletin issued on Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The police force that guards the US Capitol, seat of the legislature, said in a statement that it had “taken immediate steps to enhance our security posture and staffing for a number of days, to include March 4.”