Fences around the Capitol began to be removed Friday. (Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford)
A woman bikes past the fenced-off U.S. Capitol. (Washington Post photo by Marvin Joseph)
Published July 11. 2021 12:15AM
Jasmine Hilton and Ellie Silverman, The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - The metal fencing and concrete barriers that encircled the Capitol after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the complex on Jan. 6. gave way Saturday to an open plaza filled with families lounging on picnic blankets, dogs on leashes and visitors in sunglasses and hats.
The sidewalks where soldiers once stood holding their guns in protection of the complex now filled with walkers with strollers and bike riders.
Capitol fencing mostly gone, visitors again chill on plaza
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Final pieces of the Capitol fencing have started to come down
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OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP/Getty Images
More than 20 city blocks around the U.S. Capitol are enclosed by an eight-foot fence topped with razor wire. Five thousand National Guard troops, dressed in camouflage and toting assault rifles, patrol the periphery on foot and in armoured vehicles.
Down Pennsylvania Avenue, a second fence surrounds the White House, Treasury Building and two parks. In places, the perimeter is further reinforced with concrete barricades.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: The day after the mob attack on the Capitol, Capitol Police sealed the area off from the public with a three-mile-long fence topped with razor wire. As Jordan Pascale from member station WAMU reports, some lawmakers and residents are worried the fence will become permanent.
JORDAN PASCALE, BYLINE: You can t get anywhere near the Capitol right now thanks to an 8-foot-tall fence that went up on January 7.
CHARLES ALLEN: Things that began as temporary sure have a habit of becoming permanent pretty fast in this town, and we can t allow that to happen here.
PASCALE: That s D.C. Council member Charles Allen, who represents the Capitol Hill neighborhood. After September 11, the city s museums added metal detectors. Bollards went up around federal buildings. More recently, White House intruders led to a wider perimeter and a new 13-foot fence there. Now Allen and others are worried that security creep is coming for the Capitol.