(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune). A small crowd of Trump protesters gather at the capitol with signs, flags and guns on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021.
On twitter, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall condemned the pepper-spraying of a Tribune photographer by one of the Trump rallygoers.
“An assault on a journalist is an attack on freedom of press and democracy. This is unacceptable, and should not be allowed to go unchecked,” Mendenhall wrote.
“To any of you out there who are considering joining those protests, I ask you to please do so, but again to do so in the right way. To do so loud, to do so proud, but to do so in a respectful manner,” Cox said in a video message from the historic Governor’s Mansion. “And by no means resort to violence or property destruction.”
The newly inaugurated governor also exhorted Utahns to set an example for the rest of the nation by speaking out against the “violence, against the terrorists, against the evil that we have seen in our nation’s capitol today.”
”We are better than this in Utah,” he said. “We are better than this in America.”
The protesters finally backed off when a Highway Patrol vehicle pulled up. When the man asked the trooper to assure they would leave him alone, a protester countered, “Ain’t nobody touch you. Get on your bike and go!”
Utah State Treasurer David Damschen says he “didn’t feel too motivated” to evacuate the Capitol, although, “It was suggested by the Department of Public Safety that the reason they wanted us to leave is some of the protesters could attempt to breach the building,” he said. He added that he has had a skeleton staff working in the office since the COVID-19 outbreak.
Damschen drove around the front of the Capitol as he was leaving Wednesday afternoon to take a look at the assembled protesters. “I did see some firearms in the crowd,” he said. “But, nothing that was too alarming.”
State Auditor John Dougall said he did send his staff home at about 1 p.m.
She described it “more as a precaution,” she said, adding that it was not an evacuation.
The Highway Patrol, which is responsible for security at the Capitol, have beefed up their presence at the building just to be on the safe side, according to agency spokesman Lt. Nicholas Street.
He called protesters as “very peaceful,” but said the agency has gathered intelligence that individuals who have been “bad actors” in the past might show up this afternoon. “We just hope they are going to remain peaceful,” Street said.
Although the governor’s staff was ordered to leave the building, legislators and staffers stayed in place at the Capitol complex preparing for the upcoming legislative session. The Senate Republican caucus remained in meetings most of the day, as did many of the support staffers.
Senators in those meetings did not want to comment on the demonstrations outside, saying they were confident the Department of Public Safety would warn them should an imminent danger arise.
House Republicans were also in an all-day caucus, but they were meeting at the University of Utah.
“The Utah State Capitol has not been evacuated as of 1:38pm. I do not expect that to happen. We are still hard at work,” tweeted Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City.
But new Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson responded that “the Governor’s and Lieutenant Governor’s offices have sent staff home.”
“No masks!” one shouts back as the speaker called the protective gear, encouraged by health officials to stop the spread of the coronavirus, a symbol of communism.
A man standing near the street fronting the Capitol used a megaphone to shout to passing vehicles: “Four more years for Donald J. Trump.”
Signs posted on the Capitol Building said, “Stop the steal!” and “Trump won!”
A speaker with a megaphone addressed the crowd from the steps, repeating unproven claims that the election was stolen and saying “We need to stand up and make sure our legislators are in full awareness that this is a nation of laws.”
The speaker called on protesters to contact 10 friends so they can get 10 times as many people there. He asked, “Do you think we’re going to see Biden as president?” “No!” the crowd shouted back.
Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson tweeted that she and Gov. Spencer Cox told staffers to go home.
A spokesperson for Gov. Spencer Cox said he remained inside the building while other staffers inside the building were ordered to leave.
A crowd gathered with Trump flags and signs that say “Stop the Steal” at the same moment the U.S. Capitol has been breached by protesters, fired up by the president, disrupting the Electoral College vote count.
The crowd was growing and some were getting more worked up. Half a dozen protesters who appeared to be affiliated with the Proud Boys carried bats and guns, and other members of the crowd were equipped with radios, body armor and firearms.
Demonstrations also had forced evacuations at some other state Capitols as President Donald Trump told supporters that he was not over fighting to stay in office after his defeat by President-elect Joe Biden.
