Texas prepares to send 1,000 troops to five major cities, DC boards up its stores and Washington state puts National Guard on alert amid fears of post-election violence

Daily Mail

Texas is preparing to send in 1,000 troops to five major cities across the state ‘to deter any civil disturbance’ post-election while stores in Washington DC begin to board up their windows Monday.

Maj. Gen. James K. Brown, of The Texas National Guard, told The Express News the move would offer support to local law enforcement ‘as we did previously to deter any civil disturbance at sites in various cities within Texas’. 

In the nation’s capital businesses close to the White House began to board up their windows Monday. Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills will also board up ahead of November 3. The US will vote on November 3 to choose between Incumbent President Donald Trump and his Democratic Party challenger Joe Biden.

In Washington state up to 300 National Guard soldiers are undergoing training to to handle civil unrest and Seattle police officers have had their time off canceled. New York City has similar plans in place, as the NYPD is training every day and deploying hundreds of extra cops as it braces for Election Day and its aftermath.

Federal and state law enforcement officials have already begun expanded preparations for the possibility of widespread unrest at the polls on Election Day, a response to extraordinarily high tensions among voters and anxieties about safety stoked in part by President Donald Trump.

Brandon Jones, a spokesman for the Texas Guard, said troops would be sent to Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio. He said: ‘Right now we could go to 1,000 troops in support of civil disturbance operations.

‘We’re going to guard buildings just like we did during the George Floyd protests earlier this year. We are not going anywhere near polling locations. That has not been requested.’

It was reported last week that FBI and local officials in several states have been conducting drills, running through worse-case scenarios and setting up command centers to improve coordination on reports of violence and voter intimidation ahead of the vote.

The efforts are broader and more public-facing than in past years as fears grow over the potential for violent clashes in cities across the US. Law enforcement officials say they are not responding to any specific threats or information but are preparing for a host of different scenarios that could play out.

A text message obtained by DailyMail.com last week saw Beverly Hills business owners told to board up their windows by the local police department.

The BHPD sent out a mass text to all business owners in the area on Friday ‘strongly’ suggesting that all buildings on Rodeo Drive board up store windows by 11pm on Monday, November 2.

The department also informed owners that the famed street would be completely shut down by midnight that Monday, with no cars or pedestrians allowed to pass through. The notice also stated that no businesses should be operating ‘out of safety for the community and business patrons’ during the road closure.

Tensions are especially high given the increased political polarization and months of mass demonstrations against racial injustice that have seen violence by the left and right.

Six men were arrested after federal officials said they plotted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at her vacation home.

And experts are concerned that right-wing extremists will be emboldened by Trump’s recent refusal to clearly denounce the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist group, instead telling them to ‘stand back and stand by.’

Read the rest here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8882091/Texas-prepares-send-1-000-troops-DC-begins-board-stores-ahead-election.html