{"id":49295,"date":"2021-01-14T18:06:15","date_gmt":"2021-01-15T01:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-la-plata-county-prepare-for-potential-unrest-on-inauguration-day\/"},"modified":"2021-01-15T01:06:15","modified_gmt":"2021-01-15T01:06:15","slug":"durango-la-plata-county-prepare-for-potential-unrest-on-inauguration-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-la-plata-county-prepare-for-potential-unrest-on-inauguration-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango, La Plata County prepare for potential unrest on Inauguration Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Supporters
Supporters gather Saturday during a rally supporting President Trump at the Minnesota Capitol, in St. Paul, Minn. Local governments across the country, including Durango and La Plata County, plan to beef up security in preparation for potentially violent protests Wednesday on Inauguration Day.<\/span>Leila Navidi\/Star Tribune via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Law enforcement in Durango is holding out hope that any possible protests leading up to President-elect Joe Biden\u2019s inauguration next week will remain peaceful, but authorities are also preparing should events turn violent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope it will not (turn violent),\u201d said Durango Police Chief Bob Brammer. \u201cWe have a great community here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FBI has warned that protests are planned in all 50 states in anticipation of Inauguration Day on Wednesday, some of which will likely include armed protesters and could turn violent.<\/p>\n

Durango is no stranger to protests this past year \u2013 from marches on Main Avenue opposing COVID-19 regulations to shows of defiance surrounding the police killing of George Floyd in May.<\/p>\n

While there have been a few small incidents during those events, resulting in some people being arrested or issued citations, Brammer said it is nowhere near the scale of other cities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll ensure there\u2019s peaceful places to assemble and gather if they need to,\u201d Brammer said. \u201cBut they can\u2019t get out of bounds. Once the law is broken, we have an obligation to enforce the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, law enforcement across the country has renewed concerns after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., where at least five people, including a police officer, died as a result of the melee.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we have concern,\u201d Brammer said. \u201cI think, unequivocally across the entire United States, everyone has a concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"About
About 150 people participated in a protest in December against COVID-19 regulations.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith said local, state and federal law enforcement agencies have been in talks this week and receiving intelligence reports to monitor the situation in Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n

At this point, there\u2019s no direct, viable threat, Smith said, but authorities are preparing should the worst-case scenario arise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just keeping our ear to the ground,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re very hopeful we don\u2019t see this come to our community, but in light of recent events in our country, we feel like we have to be prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has been reported that protests across the country could start as early as Saturday, and possibly extend beyond Wednesday\u2019s Inauguration Day.<\/p>\n

The La Plata County government has chosen to close public access to all of its buildings next week as a precaution. As of Thursday afternoon, it had not yet been determined whether the La Plata County Courthouse would be closed next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is very much a precautionary measure,\u201d said county spokeswoman Megan Graham. \u201cWe\u2019re certainly hopeful nothing will occur, but we want to provide heightened security, not only for our citizens, but for county employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 testing site at the La Plata County Fairgrounds will also be closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Wednesday for Inauguration Day.<\/p>\n

\"About
About 200 people gathered in May to protest public health orders aimed at reducing the spread of the coronavirus, walking down both sides of Main Avenue.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Tom Sluis, spokesman for the city of Durango, said city offices will be closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as is the case every year, but no plans are in place to close offices next week as a precaution against protests.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement declined to share specifics about preparations, and reinforced that most of the legwork is monitoring the situation and having a plan in place should violence break out.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is just on heightened alert,\u201d Brammer said.<\/p>\n

Requests for comment to the La Plata County Republicans were not returned.<\/p>\n

Carol Cure, chairwoman of the La Plata County Democrats, said the party has no plans to counterprotest or hold any events next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we were aware of any armed presence, I would certainly caution people to stay at home rather than counterprotest,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want anyone being in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump called on \u201cALL Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn light of reports of more demonstrations, I urge that there must be NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind,\u201d Trump said in a statement.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

credible threats, but some buildings will be closed and preparations will be made<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,1137,1065,28,1512,1745,1901,29,1310],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-49295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-donald-trump","tag-durango-police-department","tag-headlines","tag-la-plata-county-government","tag-la-plata-county-officials","tag-la-plata-county-sheriff","tag-newsletter","tag-safety-of-citizens"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49295"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=49295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}