Crowds gather on America’s streets for Trump’s indictment. New York is prepared.Image: AP/Wilfredo Lee
USA
The day of the indictment is certainly not only stressful for the former President of the United States – but also and above all for the city of New York. The trial of Donald Trump is a media spectacle. And the whole city is in an uproar – and has massively ramped up security measures with a view to possible riots.
Already in the evening before the indictment reading People queued outside the south Manhattan courthouse to get into the courtroom. Barriers were erected around the building, media representatives from all over the world set up their cameras.
Republican calls on MAGA movement for major protests
Radical Republican MP Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the most well-known conspiracy theorists in the US House, wants to protest outside the door during the court hearing. On Twitter on the evening before the trial began, she asked her community to join her in protesting in front of the court – against the political persecution of Trump.
“Wear your MAGA hats,” she also urges. MAGA is short for Trump’s former slogan: Make America Great Again. Trump continues to gather a number of supporters of the MAGA movement behind him.
The Twitter account “The Trump Train” – a fan account with a blue tick – writes: “I pray for President Trump and his family. Who is by my side?”
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Trump himself called for protests against the “witch hunt” a few weeks ago. No wonder, then, that many New Yorkers remembered the storming of the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. And that’s why they feared that chaos and riots could also break out in the liberal east coast metropolis. Mayor Eric Adams cautioned protesters against becoming violent. New York is not a “playground for inappropriate anger”.
Both Trump Tower, where the former president was waiting for the indictment to be read, and the court were protected by barricades. US President Joe Biden, on the other hand, was demonstratively relaxed. “I have faith in the New York police,” he said when asked if he was worried.
Before the start of the process, there were no major protests
The big pro-Trump demo that Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene had in mind turned out to be rather small. At the time she announced, not too many pro-Trump demonstrators were there. And they were silenced by the anti-Trump protesters with cowbells, as a video by US journalist David Corn shows.
Instead of the thousands of supporters hoped for, only dozens gathered in the immediate vicinity of the courthouse. They assessed the charges as purely politically motivated. The demonstrators waved Trump flags and held up signs that read, among other things, “Witch Hunt”.
Trump is “completely innocent,” said a supporter. The Republican exposes “all the corruption” in the country. Another woman said “Communist tactics” were being used against Trump. “America will never put up with that.”
Police have the situation under control
In front of the courthouse, anti-Trump demonstrators also unfurled a banner reading “Trump lies all the time” – and promptly cleared it by MAGA supporters. The New Yorker police managed to push the two pro-Trump Protestants with MAGA caps out of the anti-Trump mob. It seemed as if the two camps were sensitively separated.
The anti-Trumps, however, as was made clear with banners and signs, are relieved that their ex-president now has to answer in court. “Lock him up” is a common request. Others alerted Trump that there will be no hairspray for his hairstyle in prison.
