Less than a week ago, as US President Donald Trump called on his supporters to march to the Capitol building in Washington DC, thousands of them gathered. But it was not just an isolated instance. Every pro-Trump rally over the last five-six years has attracted a massive crowd.
But what happened on Monday morning was different and almost unthinkable. As Trump supporters called on to boycott Twitter and stage a protest in front of the Jack Dorsey-owned company's headquarter in San Francisco, in all 30 policemen were trying to stop violence between just a handful of pro and anti-Trump protesters.
Following the Capitol riots on January 6, social media platforms began a crackdown on conspiracy theories and misinformation related to the US Presidential election and QAnon. President Trump was at the center of it all. He was banned from multiple social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram amongst others. But denying Trump his megaphone did not sit well with his supporters.
The Protest
Many of them spoke out against the ban, saying it was censorship of right-wing voices. Hence, they wanted to stage a protest against Twitter outside its San Francisco headquarter on Monday (January 11) morning at 8 AM. With Twitter and Facebook banning thousands of Trump supporters' accounts, they flocked to "free speech" alternative Parler to coordinate the protest. But soon, they were left disappointed.
Parler was soon removed from Google and Apple's app stores while Amazon removed it from its hosting service, dealing a blow to Pro-Trump supporters. Hence, they started making plans for a protest on donald.win forum. But it was a major disappointment for all Trump supporters besides Trump himself.
The Bust
The Twitter building was empty with no one to protest against as the company decided to let employees work from home due to COVID-19 restrictions. But taking a note of what happened at Capitol, San Francisco police did not want to leave it to chance. They sent a squad in advance to stop any mob violence. They even had their riot gears ready. The sidewalk near the Twitter building was barricaded and cars had no permission to stop. Apart from them, a few media outlets too were present.
However, as time passed and both members of the press and police waited for Trump supporters to arrive, all they could report and guard on was a handful of Trump supporters who opposed the President's Twitter ban and two individuals who supported the social media platform. It was a total bust!
One protester held a sign and shouted, "I don't like being censored. And I feel conservative voices are being censored," as per ABC7 News. Among the two counter-protesters, one held a poster that said "Impeach! Remove! Today!"
However, leading up to the January 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, police, FBI and intelligence agencies anticipate mob violence in Washington DC and state capitols. Security has been beefed up at all state capitols and office buildings.
