US elections: Officials concerned about organized violence – News

The mentor of a North Carolina demonstration calling for a vote in the US presidential election, which ended with several arrests of protesters, today promised a new initiative for voting day and congressmen from both parties are wary of what might happen at night electoral.

Police authorities in several states are already preparing security operations for the election night, facing threats of violent initiatives by groups associated with both presidential candidacies.

On Saturday night, a demonstration calling for the vote in North Carolina, one of the states considered key to determining the next US President, ended up with the police launching tear gas and detaining several of the participants, as they were blocking streets without authorization.

Today, Rev. Greg Drumwright, organizer of Saturday’s event, said he is planning a new demonstration for election day, raising concerns among US officials, while political leaders of both parties do not rule out the possibility of fomenting violent clashes. by far-right groups.

“We are in an extremely dangerous moment and, therefore, it is very important to insist on non-violence,” said Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of the most radical wing of the Democratic Party, today, referring to the movement of armed militias that are being organized. in various parts of the United States, on the eve of the presidential elections, scheduled for Tuesday.

Ocasio-Cortez denounced the movements of white racist groups and the harassment of a Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s campaign bus during an initiative in Texas.

For their part, Republican congressmen accuse the Black Lives Mater movement, which has expressed support for Biden, of fomenting intimidation actions among voters in mostly conservative circles.

The commercial department of Macy’s, on Fifth Avenue in New York, appeared today entrenched behind wooden panels, painted black, to protect the shop windows from possible violence on the street in the final days of the electoral campaign.

In several other cities, authorities are advising tenants to take precautionary measures and, in some states, governors advise the population to exercise their right to vote and to return home, taking precautions against the possibility of violence.

The arrests carried out on Saturday in the city of Graham, in North Carolina, demonstrated that the protesters are ready to face the security forces, using force and active resistance.

Graham police said they issued several warnings to the crowd before launching pepper spray and detaining eight people, who resisted the agents’ pleas, claiming they were holding the demonstration without legal authorization.

The organizer of the demonstration, Greg Drumwright, accused the police of “looking for excuses to use pepper gas and to arrest participants”, saying that he will again promote an action to call for voting on Tuesday, regardless of the authorities’ attitude.

North Carolina’s Democratic Governor Roy Cooper called police action “unacceptable” and pledged support for “protesters to make their voices heard”, adding that “any form of intimidation cannot be tolerated”.

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