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Home News 2020 Election Trump supporters rally at Utah Capitol amid chaos in DC
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Trump supporters rally at Utah Capitol amid chaos in DC

By
Amie Schaeffer
-
January 8, 2021
0
Proud Boys
Members of the alt-right group Proud Boys engage in a pro-Trump rally in front of the Utah State Capitol on Jan. 6. (Brian Preece)

As demonstrators mobbed the U.S. Capitol in an event that left five people dead, Trump supporters gathered at Utah’s statehouse Wednesday afternoon, flying flags and echoing the president’s false claims of mass voter fraud and a stolen election.

According to Salt Lake Community College alumnus Brian Preece, “tensions were high, and conversation was not welcome.”

Preece stated that the crowd consisted of large groups of Proud Boy members, and vitriolic language was being shouted from all directions.

“I saw a single Biden-Harris flag. The holder was immediately enveloped by Proud Boy supporters [and] those with Trump flags,” Preece said. “The single Black Lives Matter flag I saw suffered the same treatment and had to be blocked by UPD [Unified Police Department] to keep a distance between the two groups.”

Preece, who was positioned by the BLM group, was repeatedly pushed by a member of the Proud Boys.

“Let me be clear,” Preece said after he left the scene, “it’s ‘safe’ there [Utah State Capitol] right now but the amount of people there with high ammunition rifles is disturbing.”

Salt Lake Tribune reporter Taylor Stevens reported via Twitter that a staff photographer, Rick Egan, was attacked with pepper spray while covering the event.

Salt Lake Tribune photographer Rick Egan has been pepper sprayed by people here upset he was documenting the event. @sltrib #uptol pic.twitter.com/AT40p177Pt

— Taylor Stevens (@tstevensmedia) January 6, 2021

According to a letter written by Lauren Gustus, executive director of The Tribune, a pro-Trump demonstrator also verbally accosted Egan while another demonstrator shoved him.

“Journalism is enshrined in the First Amendment of our country’s Constitution. And today on the lawn of Utah’s Capitol it was tossed aside,” Gustus wrote.

Salt Lake City resident Michelle Church, whose home displays support for BLM, realized something was happening early Wednesday morning when her yard was littered with eggshells and “Pray for America” signs. Church noticed activity picking up around 1 p.m.

“My teenager was coming home, and we started to notice the Trump trucks and the flags starting to crowd the streets, but it seemed just a little bit more agro. The people from the cars were a little more vocal, you know, yelling back at the people,” Church said.

Church, who lives near the Capitol, noted that her family was used to getting a certain kind of attention. When she went outside, a Trump supporter was engaging with her daughter who had just arrived home.

“Immediately it was just a different kind of feel in the air,” Church said.

Church noted that she did not go to the Capitol, but had a feeling of what was starting.

“At that point, we just had a very strict talk about ‘today is not the day that we are enforcing our freedom of speech,’ mostly because the cars that were coming out, and the people had concealed weapons,” Church said.

Church stated that although the situation was reminiscent of the Black Lives Matter protests that took place over the summer, Wednesday’s demonstration had the “air of an angrier type of community.”

“In the past where I would have felt compelled to speak my mind and my right, I think that safety overtook that [Wednesday],” she said. “It was almost like you were living with a different level of crazy.”

Pro-Trump election protest at the Utah State Capitol
1 of 6
Proud Boys
Members of the alt-right group Proud Boys engage in a pro-Trump rally in front of the Utah State Capitol on Jan. 6. (Brian Preece)
Pro-Trump rally
Supporters of President Donald Trump gather outside the Utah State Capitol on Jan. 6 to support false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. (Brian Preece)
Trump supporters outside the Utah Capitol
The Utah Capitol was one of the dozens of statehouses to attract protests nationwide on Jan. 6. (Brian Preece)
Law enforcement officer watching protesters
A Utah Highway Patrol trooper observes a crowd of pro-Trump demonstrators outside the Utah State Capitol on Jan. 6. (Brian Preece)
Trump supporters protesting 2020 election
Activists supporting President Donald Trump congregate in front of the Utah State Capitol on Jan. 6. (Brian Preece)
Black Lives Matter flag at pro-Trump rally
Hundreds of people gathered on the lawn in front of the Utah State Capitol on Jan. 6. A majority of demonstrators attended the rally to protest the results of the 2020 presidential election. (Brian Preece)
  • TAGS
  • Brian Preece
  • Donald Trump
  • Lauren Gustus
  • Michelle Church
  • protest
  • Proud Boys
  • Rick Egan
  • Salt Lake Tribune
  • Taylor Stevens
  • Utah State Capitol
Amie Schaeffer

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