WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump warned people on Tuesday against protesting at the weekend military parade in Washington marking the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary.
“For those people that want to protest, they’re going to be met with very big force,” Trump told reporters in the White House’s Oval Office.
Law enforcement agencies are preparing for hundreds of thousands of people to attend Saturday’s parade, U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Matt McCool said on Monday.
McCool said thousands of agents, officers and specialists will be deployed from law enforcement agencies from across the country.
The FBI and the Metropolitan Police Department have said there are no credible threats to the event.
In unscheduled Oval Office remarks, Trump discussed his decision to deploy 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles after protests erupted in response to federal immigration raids at workplaces there.
He defended his decision to take that rare step and said troops were necessary to contain the unrest, despite objections from local and state officials that they were needed.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Doina Chiacu; editing by Rami Ayyub)
