In Harrisburg and Trenton, ‘a collective sigh of relief’ as few pro-Trump loyalists show up following FBI warning

Despite a stark warning from the FBI that state capitals could be targeted by far-right extremists or armed protesters this week, just a handful of demonstrators appeared at government buildings in Harrisburg and Trenton on Sunday as throngs of law enforcement patrolled.

“We are breathing a collective sigh of relief,” Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora said Sunday afternoon. “It appears there are more skateboarders than protesters here.”

The relief rippled across a nation on the edge, still reeling from the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that left five dead and set off a massive law enforcement response from coast to coast ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s Wednesday inauguration. Last week, the FBI warned that at least one group that backs President Donald Trump called for supporters to “storm” government buildings, and authorities said some far-right personalities indicated they’d begin their demonstrations Sunday.

» READ MORE: State capitals are preparing for unrest after far-right threats, and residents are dreading it: ‘I feel like I’ve been held hostage’

In preparation, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf activated hundreds of members of the National Guard, the Capitol was closed, and police fortified the building with barricades. Streets were shut down in Harrisburg and Trenton, and residents hunkered down in their homes.

It turned out that both cities were quiet Sunday. In Harrisburg, a few demonstrators appeared, as did a couple counterprotesters, including one who approached police and denounced white supremacy while clutching his lunch in a Styrofoam container. The largest gathering near the Capitol was likely a scrapbooking convention at a nearby hotel, made up of mostly women armed with scissors and creativity.

The calm was largely the case at state capitals across the country over the weekend and in D.C., where much of the city is being patrolled by about 25,000 National Guard troops, including some from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Tall fencing surrounds the Capitol, and the National Mall is closed to the public in an unprecedented lockdown of the nation’s capital.

On Sunday, police in Washington said they arrested a woman at a security checkpoint who was impersonating an officer. On Saturday, they arrested a man who had a gun and 500 rounds of ammunition in his truck.

Some experts in counterterrorism who warned of the potential for violence this week said extremists who were organizing online to wreak havoc may have been deterred by the enormous law enforcement deployment and the arrests taking place daily of people accused of breaching or attempting to break into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

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Colin P. Clarke, director of research at the Soufan Group, an intelligence and security consulting firm, said law enforcement must remain vigilant and take threats from far-right extremists seriously, including after the inauguration. He said Trump’s “violent rhetoric” and lies about a stolen election laid the groundwork “for four years of political violence.”

“He delegitimized the Biden administration,” Clark said. “Our government is not illegitimate. There was no fraudulent election. But people think there was.”

In Harrisburg on Sunday, one man who did show up wore a “Fraud 2020″ hoodie and granted interviews to reporters and photographers who’d gathered near the Capitol. Another man wearing a Gadsden flag face mask said he attended the demonstrations in Washington that led up to the insurrection at the Capitol, but said he didn’t support violence or vandalism.

“There’s a lot of unhappy American citizens,” said the man, who declined to provide his name.

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Counterprotester Gene Stilp, a mainstay in the Dauphin County activism scene, came to the Pennsylvania Capitol with a homemade cutout of Trump, which he symbolically “tore down.” The base read: “white supremacist,” “fascist,” “guilty of negligent homicide in the deaths of over 375,000 Americans,” “liar,” and “traitor.”

A line of Pennsylvania Capitol Police officers held riot shields and batons as they stood at their posts at the top of the building’s steps. Pennsylvania State Police horses did laps through nearby streets. The surrounding area was otherwise quiet, with most shops and restaurants closed as a precaution.

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse said residents should expect a “strong police presence” throughout the city through Inauguration Day, saying in a prerecorded video Sunday: “The Capitol will be defended, Harrisburg will be protected, and we will make it through this challenging time together.”

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In Trenton, a lone protester with a “Stop the Steal” sign loitered for less than half an hour in front of the New Jersey State Senate Annex on Sunday morning.

“Cops, media, and one lonely anti-fascist” is how Daryle Lamont Jenkins summed up the scene. The organizer of One People’s Project and an anti-fascist researcher, Jenkins said he came to Trenton to see whether there would be any activity but was not surprised that things were quiet, especially following the mounting arrests of insurrectionists. “Jersey right-wingers don’t like heat. That’s why they live in New Jersey.”

Police still were taking precautions, including blocking off the section of State Street where the state Senate, New Jersey State Library, and the building housing the office of Gov. Phil Murphy are located. Dump trucks and police cars guarded the ends of the blockaded area.

Gusciora, the mayor, said local, state, and federal law enforcement authorities collaborated on the response and would continue to do so through Inauguration Day, though the lack of a large visible force was intentional so as not to incite friction. He acknowledged that some businesses had chosen to board up in preparation for any violent acts.

“It’s a shame,” Gusciora said, “that has to happen in this day and age.”

Staff writers Erin McCarthy, Aubrey Whelan, Sean Collins Walsh and William Bender contributed to this article.