Few activists show up at fortified state capitols

Law enforcement agencies headed into the weekend with concerns that what happened in Washington on Jan. 6 might reoccur across the country. But crowds of armed, right-wing protesters did not amass at state capitols as expected.

Did anything out of the ordinary happen? Security forces mostly outnumbered protesters and counterprotesters in the few states—including Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, and Texas—where groups of about two dozen or fewer people showed up. On Friday, authorities in Washington, D.C., arrested a man at an inauguration checkpoint who allegedly had unauthorized firearms and 500 rounds of ammunition in his vehicle. The suspect told several news outlets he forgot the guns, which are legal in his home state of Virginia, were in the truck when he came to work in the city. Meanwhile, National Guard troops and other law enforcement agents have flooded into Washington by the thousands to help secure President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday. The Department of Defense is vetting the troops to try to prevent any insider attacks.

Dig deeper: Read Mindy Belz’s report in Globe Trot about how other countries view the unrest in the United States.