A member of the Proud Boys is detained by police during a protest in Washington, DC. (AFP)
Washington:
Four people were stabbed and shot as demonstrations supporting President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of election fraud sparked clashes in major US cities on Saturday.
Skirmishes broke out in many places between rally attendees and counter-protesters who came forward to criticize the president, who lost the Nov.3 election to Democrat Joe Biden but has yet to relent.
Washington State Police said in a tweet Saturday night that a shooting had occurred after clashes near the capitol building in Olympia and that a suspect had been detained.
In the US capital, DC Fire and Emergency Department communications chief Doug Buchanan told AFP that four people had been stabbed and were now hospitalized “with serious injuries.” The New York Times reported that 23 had been arrested throughout the day.
There was no indication whether any of the victims had been involved in the protests, on either side of the division.
The day had started with a festive atmosphere as thousands of red-hatted protesters filled the streets of Washington to support the president, undeterred by the rejection of the US Supreme Court on Friday of what may have been their last chance to overturn. the results.
Similar events took place in Olympia, Atlanta, and St. Paul, Minnesota, as well as in smaller cities in Nebraska, Alabama, and elsewhere.
Protesters at the DC rally, notably smaller than a similar protest last month, told AFP they strongly supported the embattled president.
“We are not going to give up,” said Luke Wilson, a 60-something protester who had come from the western state of Idaho.
“I believe a great injustice is being done to the American people,” added Dell Quick, a regular at Trump’s political rallies, waving a gun rights flag.
Protesters offered many explanations for the poll’s results, even though they have been confirmed by state election officials, several of them Republicans, and by judges in several key states.
All states have certified the results, giving Biden 306 Electoral College votes to Trump’s 232. Voters will formally cast their votes on Monday.
But the protesters insisted, as Trump has repeatedly done, that there was widespread election fraud.
Some pointed to “foreign interference,” others to software that supposedly erased millions of votes for the president, but not those of other Republican candidates on the same ballots.
Quick told AFP that “it is not possible” that Biden won.
Susan Bowman, a 62-year-old woman from Hampton, Virginia, said “this is not a banana republic. We need to fix the elections.”
Those who addressed the crowd included Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, who was recently pardoned by the president after admitting he lied to the FBI about alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
– Choice ‘stolen’ –
Dozens of court cases alleging fraud or contesting the outcome have been resolved, virtually all in favor of Biden, with some judges harshly criticizing the lack of evidence.
But that wasn’t enough for Darlene Denton, 47, who wore a “Trump 2024” badge on her sweatshirt.
“Nobody wants to hear evidence, nobody wants to hear cases, everything just gets thrown away,” said Denton, who had come from Tennessee to support a president who said he had given “a voice to the people.”
Trump, in complete defiance of the clear result and American tradition, has refused to give in to Biden.
“Wow! Thousands of people are forming in Washington (DC) for Stop the Steal,” he tweeted early Saturday. “I didn’t know about this, but I’ll be watching!”
Not long after, his helicopter took off from the White House grounds and passed the crowd, many singing the United States national anthem, as Trump headed to New York to attend the annual Army and Navy football game. .
Among the protesters, members of the far-right militia Proud Boys were clearly visible, in their distinctive black and yellow outfits, some in bulletproof vests, and often elicited cheers from others in the crowd.
A few blocks away, supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement staged their own, much smaller rally, shouting “Nazis out!”
Police, some in riot gear, used their bodies and bicycles to keep the groups apart. There was also at least one confrontation between the police and the counter-protesters.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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