Far more guards, police than protesters in the Utah Capitol

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(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) One of the dozens of protesters will carry an upturned flag at the Utah Capitol on Sunday, January 17, 2021, around noon.

The Utah Capitol remained safe on Sunday.

While federal law enforcement had warned of armed demonstrations at Capitols across the country in the wake of the pro-Trump attack on the Capitol on January 6, only about 15 protesters showed up on the lawn of Utah’s Statehouse. Even that number is generous.
Most of Sunday’s protests attracted more spectators than the extremist, anti-governmental Boogaloo Bois who hosted the rally. The only pro-Trump presence was a handful of men quietly waving flags for hours in support of defeated President Donald Trump. Spectators posed for selfies, walked their dogs, and sat with their kids, sipping lattes, watching the scene.
Not to mention the dozens of law enforcement and National Guard troops that lined the building, about 50 of which were stationed at the south entrance of the Capitol at all times, ready for an attack that never came.

Had it not been for the police and the warning tape around the building, and the small group of armed protesters, it could have been any other unusually warm Sunday afternoon in January.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) George Zinn responds to a woman who said derogatory things about President Donald Trump at the Utah Capitol, where a dozen protesters gathered on Sunday, January 17, 2021.

As Howard Medrano, a tourist who happened to be at the demonstration, said, “It’s a beautiful day to protest, but I think we’ll just have a beautiful day without much protest – and that’s a good thing.”

The eight Boogaloos, who staged the event and refused to give their name, called the massive law enforcement a “ joke, ” while standing with guns just south of the Capitol entrance. They wore brightly colored Hawaiian shirts, a garment for their movement, and held up two flags and two plates. As a news helicopter circled overhead, they lifted their signs into the sky.

“Are you sufficiently prepared for this situation?” one shouted through a megaphone to the Utah Highway Patrol troopers.

Officials in Utah locked the Capitol and other government buildings after federal law enforcement warned of the potential for violence in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The Salt Lake City FBI field office had said it had not received “specific” or “substantiated” threats of violence here, but was in an “elevated position” and set up a command post on the Utah Capitol grounds.
The Utah National Guard, Utah Highway Patrol, and other local law enforcement officers were also called up. Gov. Spencer Cox declared a state of emergency on Thursday over the potential violence of this protest or others they expect between now and the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday.

“Today’s protests have been peaceful and obedient to the law, certainly the desired outcome, and we hope it continues for the next several weeks,” spokesman Jennifer Napier-Pearce said on Sunday. “The presence of the Utah Highway Patrol and the Utah National Guard ensured the safety of our Capitol Building, and we are grateful for their service.”

Cox tweeted that Sunday’s outcome was “our best case scenario, as many agitating groups canceled their plans and those who showed up were peaceful.”

Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Nick Street said that while the protest turned into a ‘non-event’, the large police and military presence was important.

He said police heard about the planned protests from social media posts on ‘fringe’ sites in the days following the January 6 attack, but most were closed by the time Sunday’s protest took place.

“We couldn’t take this seriously,” he said. ‘We just couldn’t. We’d be ‘dumb drunk if we did that, damn if we didn’t’. Every state went through what Utah did. “

Street said officials are likely to reduce law enforcement in the next few days patrolling the Capitol, which remains closed. However, there will be some heightened security as the Utah Legislature begins its annual session on Tuesday.

Street said the extra tough measures taken recently were due to “the specific day circled in our calendars,” Sunday.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Troops of the National Guard at the State Capitol in Salt Lake City on Sunday, January 17, 2021.

That meeting remained peaceful for the entire three hours that the Boogaloos stood on the Capitol grounds, intermittently telling the watching police and troop versions, “This whole thing is a joke.”

They meant the police and media presence, but for the Boogaloos who protested on Sunday, even their organization is a bit of a joke, born of an Internet memo that, they said, really became the way people treated it that way.

The group told the story of Duncan Lemp, a 21-year-old who became a martyr for many anti-government extremist groups after he was killed by police in an early morning shootout, The Washington Post reported. . They also talked about the importance of coming together as citizens – regardless of political affiliation – against an oppressive government.

One carried a sign against qualified immunity and police unions. The other sought pardon for National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and Ross William Ulbricht, creator of the now-defunct darknet marketplace Silk Road.

However, many passers-by did not take the protesters too seriously. Some motorists passing by mistakenly assumed it was a pro-Trump rally and shouted ‘F — Trump’ as they passed. The Boogaloos called Trump a “dictator” and complained about the deaths of both George Floyd and Ashli ​​Babbitt, who were murdered by Capitol police during the January 6 riot.

Towards the end of the protest, a woman held a boombox over her head and repeatedly played YG and Nipsey Hussle’s song “FDT” (meaning F — Donald Trump). The Boogaloos responded by announcing again that they did not support the president.

“Can you change it to ‘F — tha Police’ by NWA?” asked a Boogaloo over a megaphone.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Members of the Bois of Liberty at the State Capitol in Salt Lake City on Sunday, January 17, 2021.

An onlooker, who identified himself only as Colin, lazed on the grass with his family and dogs, saying it seemed to him that those who protested were simply trying to get noticed by the dozens of journalists roaming the Capitol grounds.

“They’re looking for attention,” he said.

When Shylah Poirier and her husband approached the grounds with their two girls and dog on a family scavenger hunt, they hesitated to get closer to the south stairs.

“I didn’t really want to step on the premises,” she said, “especially with the kids.”

But in the end, she thought it would be a good lesson for her children to see that groups of people have different beliefs and can have room to share them peacefully.

The girls walked to the south staircase, a few yards from the yellow police line, snapped a picture at a Bijenkorf statue for the scavenger hunt, and left.

About an hour later the Boogaloos also left.

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