Protesters’ march in downtown ends; no violence at fortified California state Capitol

A collection of protesters marched around and to California’s heavily guarded state Capitol on Wednesday as authorities continued their extraordinary show of force in downtown Sacramento to thwart any violence on Inauguration Day for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The day in Sacramento remained largely uneventful, with only about a half-dozen supporters of former President Donald Trump in evidence walking around the Capitol.

At noon, about 60 antifa-style marchers clad in black clothing, helmets and makeshift body armor fashioned from cardboard or plastic garbage cans marched up Capitol Mall toward the building.

The marchers, who came from groups that met up at Fremont and Neely Johnson parks, walked up to the 3-foot steel barriers police placed at Ninth Street and pulled them aside, then walked toward the west side of the Capitol.

Joe Pepi of South Lake Tahoe is a Biden-Harris supporter who went to state Capitol to see if there was any unrest.

“I’m just wondering how much all this costs. They could’ve been getting ready to do (COVID-19) vaccinations,” Pepi, 65, said about the National Guard deployment to protect the Capitol.

As protesters approached the fortified center of government, law enforcement watched alertly, but made no effort to stop them. The 50 to 75 marchers went to the 6-foot chain-link fence around the Capitol and banged on it while shouting slogans against Trump, Biden and the police.

They marched off after a short while, heading down Capitol Mall to the west while dozens of police on bicycles and in vehicles followed along at a distance. Officers retrieved two empty canisters of wire pull smoke grenades, which antifa members had used to release a pink haze around the fence.

At the old John Moss Federal Building the protesters, clad in black, stopped to taunt National Guard troops and graffiti the concrete benches and walkways with chalk slogans. Eventually, they split back into two groups to return to their original staging points.

One group stopped outside the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office at Seventh and G streets and briefly pulled down some of the cyclone fencing protecting that building, but left without trying to enter.

After a half-hour to an hour of marching separately, the groups returned to their respective staring points before slowly dissolving. There was only two known instances of counter-protesters Wednesday: two men in “Make America Great Again” hats who followed some protesters at Fremont Park and left before the march began, and a raised pickup truck whose driver blared “America the Beautiful” near the Capitol before he was chased off by demonstrators.

The other group headed back toward Fremont Park, at one point chasing a neighborhood resident and throwing helmets and batons at him.

The man, who gave his name as Troy W., later said he was trying to get to work and came out to demand they leave when he was chased. He also faced questions from some in the group who wanted to know why he was wearing a hat with a U.S. flag on it.

“That pisses you off? That?” he asked.

The Sacramento Police Department said before 2 p.m. on Twitter that there were no incidents from the protests. About 3:45 p.m., police officials reported that fencing was pushed over outside the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office on Ninth and G streets. The fence was back up later.

A vehicle reportedly confronted the protesters as they marched, and one person in that vehicle was cited on suspicion of illegally possessing pepper spray, according to the department. Officers pulled over another vehicle after police received reports that Molotov cocktails were inside that vehicle. Officers did not find any incendiary devices in that vehicle.

No other incidents had been reported at that time, and officials said a heavy police presence would remain in downtown Sacramento through the night.

From 9 a.m., when Joe Biden was sworn in as the nation’s 46th president until about 11 a.m., only one protester was present at the capitol: a man in a red “Make America Great Again” hat who carried an air horn attached to a pole.

The man, who would not give his name, said he was there “to make some noise” in support of Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen.

Dozens of California Highway Patrol officers streamed into the Capitol just before 8 a.m., joining hundreds of others who were already on duty. Police and other law enforcement were spread through out the downtown area, and I Street remained blocked off in front of the Main Jail between Sixth and Seventh streets.

Gov. Gavin Newsom last week ordered 1,000 National Guard Troops to secure the Capitol and other state buildings downtown, and the California Highway Patrol has encircled the building with fencing, vehicles and rooftop spotters to monitor activity.

The FBI warned last week in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that all 50 state capitals could see armed attacks. So far, there has been no violence in Sacramento.

Inauguration Day live updates: Biden sworn in as 46th president. Here’s what to know