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Arizona protests: Crowd erupts as conspiracy theorist Alex Jones shows up

Oliver O'Connell
Alex Jones of Infowars speaks to supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump gather during a protest about the early results of the 2020 presidential election, in front of the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC), in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., November 5, 2020. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart (REUTERS)

Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones showed up at the protest outside a Phoenix office where Arizona’s votes are being counted.

A crowd of supporters of President Donald Trump that had gathered outside the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Centre erupted and swarmed around him, chanting his name, azcentral reports.

Mr Jones, whom Mr Trump has spoken approvingly of, yelled into a megaphone: “America is united” and “1776!”

“The world is watching the example of Arizona, the president is watching the example, you’re not gonna let ‘em steal this," he said.

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Protesters first gathered outside the building on Wednesday night, many armed.

They were angry that both the Associated Press and Fox News had called the state for Joe Biden in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Some of the protesters waved Trump flags and chanted “Fox News sucks!” and “Count the votes!” for hours.

They were eventually moved away, and the press and public were asked to leave the building so that the vote count could continue uninterrupted.

As it did, mail-in ballots have seen the gap between Mr Trump and Mr Biden narrow, with just 1.6 per cent separating them in favour of the former vice president, with 90 per cent of votes counted as of late Thursday.

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After Mr Jones’ arrival at the protest on Thursday night, the mood of the crowd became boisterous and some left the main body of the protest and entered the roadway.

They screamed at a nearby group of counter-protesters.

Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies separated the groups and moved to get people out of the road.

Mr Jones then reportedly disappeared from the scene. 

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