On Sunday, the United States Capitol Police announced that it would be building yet another fence around the Capitol building ahead of Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.
According to CNN, the unprecedented decision to barricade the Capitol again was made in conjunction with the Capitol Police and the Secret Service. As the State of the Union is classified as a National Special Security Event, the Secret Service are in charge of planning for security.
In a statement, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger declared that he had “also requested support from outside law enforcement agencies as well as the National Guard to assist with our security precautions.”
The heightened security is most likely in response to plans for numerous trucker convoys to arrive in D.C. around the time that Biden is set to give his speech, which will be his second address to a joint session of Congress since he came to power. As previously reported, the Department of Defense has already authorized the deployment of 700 unarmed members of the National Guard to be stationed in D.C. for the State of the Union, and to remain in place for several weeks after the speech.
The protests, inspired by the highly successful trucker protests in Canada, are en route to the nation’s capital from all across the country, from Pennsylvania to California. Organizers of the various trucker convoys have stated that, like the Canadian protesters, they plan to protest various forms of government overreach in recent years, such as the COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
This will be the second time that the U.S. Capitol has been barricaded under the Biden Administration. Massive fencing was previously erected after the peaceful protests at the Capitol building on January 6th, 2021, which Biden and the Democratic Party have repeatedly and falsely referred to as an “insurrection.” The post-January 6th fencing remained in place for months after the protests, leading to widespread criticism of the Biden Administration for heightened security measures that cut off the people from their government, and also led to the capital city being perceived as totalitarian, from security checkpoints to concrete barriers and fencing all across the city.