Gov. Gavin Newsom announced fortified security measures Thursday for the California State Capitol and other government buildings as law enforcement braces for potential unrest ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inaugural next Wednesday.
“We’re treating this very seriously and deploying significant resources,” Newsom said in a videotaped statement, adding that "there will be no tolerance for violence.
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation warned this week that all 50 statehouses could see violence flare after rioters overtook Congress last week and as Biden’s imminent ascension inflames conservatives and anti-government activists. Underscoring the peril, speakers at a Thursday budget hearing made thinly-veiled threats of violence against state lawmakers.
A day after Newsom and legislative leaders jointly vowed more safeguards without offering details, the governor on Thursday elaborated on the bigger response. He said efforts will include deploying 1,000 California National Guard members to protect the Capitol and other state assets, erecting a chain-link fence around the Capitol building and ensuring the State Operations Center can meet requests for assistance at any hour. The state will coordinate operations via its Law Enforcement Coordination Center, which Newsom said he would activate “to its highest level.”
“In light of events in our nation’s capital last week, California is taking important steps to protect public safety at the State Capitol, and across the state,” Newsom said in a statement. “Our State Operations Center is actively working with federal, state and local law enforcement partners in assessing threats and sharing intelligence and information to ensure those disgraceful actions are not repeated here.
”Shortly before Newsom unveiled those countermeasures, people allied with California’s anti-vaccination movement spoke in vitriolic terms at a budget hearing in the State Senate chambers. They threatened legislators — signaling that the risk of violence could hang over California politicians as the state embarks on a monthslong mass inoculation drive.
One woman decried vaccinations before noting that Americans had purchased millions of guns in recent weeks and ominously asking, “What do you think they’re going do with them?” Another spoke of a “new world order” and told legislators they are “going to be the first to go.”
“We didn’t buy guns for nothing,” the woman said.
They singled out Newsom and State Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), the author of bills tightening student vaccination requirements, promising political repercussions. One woman read from a clipboard emblazoned with the logo of a campaign to recall Newsom. "Newsom is first. And once he’s gone Pan is the next," said another. Vaccine dissenters have repeatedly tried and failed to recall Pan.
A representative for Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) responded to questions about potential security responses by pointing to the earlier joint statement.
Vaccine opponents have violently disrupted the Legislature before. A woman incensed by a bill strengthening the state’s vaccine mandate gorily derailed the end of the 2018 legislative session by hurling a cup of blood onto the Senate floor.