Demonstrators claiming without evidence the presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump have staged rallies in several US states, with one in Washington turning violent after dark.
Key points:
- US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence fraud denied him an election victory
- Protesters repeated those claims in rallies in several US states
- Far-right group the Proud Boys clashed with antifa counter-protesters during the rallies
Mr Trump’s supporters, carrying his campaign flags and signs, marched between the Supreme Court, the Capitol and downtown Washington, which was closed to traffic by police vehicles and dump trucks.
Groups of pro-Trump Proud Boys members and antifa counter-protesters brawled in the heart of the national capital.
Police moved in quickly to separate them, using pepper spray on members of both sides, witnesses said.
About 200 members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group, had joined the marches near the Trump hotel.
Many wore combat fatigues, black and yellow shirts and ballistic vests, carried helmets and flashed hand signals used by white nationalists.
Trump supporters rallied in Washington and clashed with counter-protesters.(AP: Luis M Alvarez)
Earlier, police in riot gear and on bicycles kept the opposing demonstrators apart by blocking streets.
After dark fell, the protesters including members of the aggressive far-left anti-fascism movement splintered into smaller groups to roam the streets in search of their rivals.
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Protests were also held in other communities around the country, including Atlanta, Georgia, another state where Mr Trump’s campaign has sought to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory, and Mobile, Alabama, according to local news coverage.
Local media in the Washington state capital of Olympia reported one person was shot and three were arrested after clashes between pro and anti-Trump protest groups.
Pardoned Trump adviser speaks at rallies
Michael Flynn, who recently received a pardon from Donald Trump, says the US constitution is “about individual liberties”.(AP: Luis M Alvarez)
More than 50 federal and state court rulings have upheld Joe Biden’s election victory.
The US Supreme Court on Friday rejected a long-shot lawsuit filed by Texas and backed by Mr Trump seeking to throw out voting results in four states.
“Whatever the ruling was yesterday everybody take a deep, deep breath,” Mr Trump’s former national security adviser, Mike Flynn, told protesters in front of the Supreme Court, referring to the court’s refusal to hear the Texas case.
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Mr Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with the former Russian ambassador, spoke in his first public address since the President pardoned him on November 24.
“My charge to you is to go back to where you are from” and make demands, Mr Flynn told the crowd, without being more specific.
The US constitution is “not about collective liberty, it is about individual liberties, and they designed it that way,” he said.
US election 2020
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Mr Trump has refused to concede defeat, alleging without evidence he was denied victory by massive fraud.
On his way to Andrews Air Force Base and then the Army-Navy football game in New York, Mr Trump made three passes in the Marine One helicopter over the cheering protesters.
During his first debate with Mr Biden in September, Mr Trump gave fuel to the Proud Boys movement by telling the group to “stand back and stand by”.
He later said he condemned the group and “all white supremacists”.
US President Donald Trump flies over supporters in the Marine One helicopter.(AP: Luis M Alvarez)
Reuters