Dozens of heavily armed self-described militia members dressed in camouflage descended on Kentucky’s statehouse Saturday to loudly bash Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and praise the Donald Trump-supporting rioters who stormed the nation’s Capitol.
The men, toting rifles and zip ties, also railed against socialism, communism, and Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
They were there to demand the democratic election for president be overturned.
At one point they took a knee to honor Air Force veteran Ashli Babbit, who was fatally shot inside the Capitol Wednesday as she climbed through a window to the Speaker’s Lobby after a mob of Trump supporters had stormed the building.
The brother-in-law of another victim in the attack, Roseanne Boyland, blamed Trump on Sunday for inciting the violence. Boyland, 34, reportedly died of crushing injuries as the mob surged into the Capitol.
Beshear said after the militia protest on Twitter that “we will not be bullied. America is counting on the real patriots — those who condemn hate and terror when they see it.”
Guns are allowed on the Capitol grounds in Kentucky — and even in much of the building in the “gun-friendly state,” noted the newspaper. But with COVID-19 restrictions, the building was closed Saturday to those without appointments.
The Kentucky protest was among the most ominous of several demonstrations at state Capitols across the nation this week as Trump supporters continue to demand he continue as president, despite voters’ choice. There were rallies Wednesday in Kansas, Michigan, Idaho and California, among others.
In Salem, Oregon, the white nationalist Proud Boys group clashed with left-wing protesters, using smoke bombs and a rapid-fire paintball rifle.
Correction: A relative’s comments about a death in the Capitol attack in an earlier version of the story referred to a second victim, Roseanne Boyland.