Washington prepares for massive Trump birthday military parade
Thousands of security agents, extensive fencing, and drone surveillance in place for Saturday’s event
As the US capital cleans up from the culmination of World Pride this past weekend, focus now shifts to a very different massive event – Saturday’s military parade to honour the 250th birthday of the US Army and the 79th birthday of President Donald Trump.
“We’re preparing for an enormous turnout,” said Matt McCool of the Secret Service’s Washington Field office, who said more than 28km of “anti-scale fencing” would be erected and “multiple drones” would be in the air. The entire District of Columbia is normally a no-fly zone for drones.
US Army officials have estimated around 200,000 attendees for the evening military parade, and McCool said he was prepared for “hundreds of thousands” of people.
“We have a tonne of magnetometers,” he said. “If a million people show up, then we’re going to have some lines.”
A total of 175 magnetometers would be used at security checkpoints controlling access to the daytime birthday festival and the nighttime parade. Metropolitan Police Department chief Pamela Smith predicted “major impacts to traffic” and advised attendees to arrive early and consider forgoing cars for the Metro.
“This is a significant event with a large footprint,” she said. “We’re relying on the public to be an extra set of ears and eyes for us.”