Not even when Donald Trump gave his first press conference as president-elect in his building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, nor on his first visit as president, with hundreds of protesters expressing that New York rejects him. Not even on those occasions was there a security deployment like the one that has been mounted now. In the middle is the seizure of the Capitol and the attempted coup and that makes everything extreme.
Between fences and uniforms, the sidewalk on the block of the Trump tower (57th and 56th streets) was closed. Opposite, a narrow passage, behind a wall of police buses, to irritate or enjoy the throng of tourists. A space was set up for the journalists on that opposite sidewalk, on 56th Street, below the tower. On the other side there was a space for the trumpistas, a dozen or more who wanted to welcome their hero.
“Control yourselves,†Mayor Eric Adams urged New Yorkers. “This is a city, not a playground for anger,†he warned. Downstairs, before the courts where Trump will appear today, there was calm.
