A vague, poorly worded flyer announcing “armed” protests at state capitols is causing Michigan to erect a six-foot fence around the legislative building on Friday.
The yellow flyer, with yellow and blue text, circulated on social media and was broadcast by mainstream media outlets:
“When democracy is destroyed refuse to be silenced,” it read.
“Armed march on Capitol Hill and all state capitols,” it continued, announcing a date of January 17 at 12:00 p.m.
It said the protest will take place at the “Washington Memorial [sic] to the White House.”
The flyer did not contain the name of a group organizing the protests.
Breitbart News spoke to a Michigan state representative who said there are no announced protests taking place at the Capitol prior to President-elect Joe Biden’s scheduled inauguration next Wednesday.
Nevertheless, Michigan officials are gearing up and locking down.
The Lansing State Journal reported:
Capitol facilities staff will install a 6-foot fence around the building in anticipation of an armed demonstration this weekend, the latest in a series of local security measures taken after the insurrectionist riot at the U.S. Capitol last week.
The fence will border the sidewalks that arc through the Capitol grounds along Capitol Avenue and join existing fencing that surrounds the construction on the north, west and south sides of the building, Michigan State Capitol Commission Vice-Chair John Truscott said late Tuesday afternoon.
“We’ve seen what’s going on in some of the other capitols, where they’re putting up plywood,” Truscott told the paper. “We’ll have sheets of plywood available, but we think the fence will be more effective.”
The fence will be installed Friday and removed “at the advice of state police,” an agency Gov. Gretchen Whitmer controls.
“The Michigan State Police takes our responsibility for ensuring safety at Michigan’s Capitol very seriously. Demonstrations are a common occurrence, with the vast majority being entirely peaceful gatherings,” Lt. Brian Oleksyk, a State Police public information officer, told WLNS, which aired the flyer.
“Security enhancements are both seen and unseen. In general, we don’t discuss security measures, but I can confirm that we will be increasing our visible presence at the Capitol for the next couple of weeks starting this morning.”
While addressing reporters on Wednesday, Whitmer acknowledged there is “not any” specific threat.
According to Fox 2, she said:
I can say that there is a lot of chatter that is being monitored both by our federal partners and state resources and, as for specific threat, there is not any to my knowledge. But we can see nationally the focus is on the 17th and we’re going to continue to stay close to our federal partners as we are thinking about how we ensure the safety of the capitol complex.
Whitmer reiterated that there is no “impending threat.”
Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on Saturdays–download full podcast episodes. Follow him on Parler.
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