Trump issues stern warning to anyone planning to protest at his birthday parade: ‘You will be met with...'
Trump issues a warning to protestors ahead of the Army Day parade in Washington, DC.
The Army Day parade scheduled to take place in Washington, DC, on June 14 is under threat by a nationwide protest to challenge the administration’s authoritarian behavior.
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Trump's warning to anyone with plans protest
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, he said on Tuesday (June 10), “We're going to celebrate big on Saturday. If any protesters want to come out, they will be met with very big force. This is people that hate our country.”
“The flag doesn’t belong to President Trump. It belongs to us. We’re not watching history happen. We’re making it. On June 14th, we’re showing up everywhere he isn’t—to say no thrones, no crowns, no kings,” says the official website of the No Kings’ parade- a counter-protest organized by multiple groups like Indivisible and the 50501 movement (50 states, 50 protests, 1 movement). The website also adds that no demonstration has been scheduled to take place in Washington to purposely make “everywhere else the story of America that day”.
Army spokesman Steve Warren had said in a statement last month that the service will defend peaceful protests to protect citizens’ First Amendment rights. "But if that turns violent or any laws are broken, that's when [the Metropolitan Police Department], Park Police, Secret Service will be involved,” added Matt McCool, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service's Washington Field Office.
The National Guard from the District of Columbia and several other states has been activated but not armed for the day. The US Secret Service is currently tracking nine possible demonstrations on the day, according to McCool. A list provided by the National Park Service reports five peaceful protest applications that are being processed for this Saturday. As of now, the FBI and the Metropolitan Police Department have not identified any credible threats to the celebration.
About the parade on Saturday
The Washington DC parade is scheduled to commemorate 250 years of the creation of the US Army. It will include 28 Abrams tanks, 28 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, 28 Stryker vehicles, 4 Paladin self-propelled howitzers, 8 marching bands, 24 horses, 2 mules, and a dog. "We have a lot of those army airplanes flying over the top, and we have tanks all over the place,” Trump added in his statement. Coincidentally, the parade is scheduled to take place on the day of the President’s 79th birthday.
Authorities are preparing to host hundreds of thousands of viewers for Saturday’s parade in Washington.
(By Stuti Gupta)
