Va. police: Anti-Trump activists’ plan to block highway thwarted

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Protesters have twice blocked Interstate 95 in Richmond, Virginia, but on the night President Donald Trump was inaugurated, police managed to keep them off the highway. A police affidavit suggests how they did it.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/2j0VmEq) reports that plainclothes officers observed a group of people at a vacant, overgrown lot next to the highway conducting “demonstration training” ahead of the inauguration after a construction company complained of stolen equipment there.

An affidavit used to obtain a search warrant says investigators believed the attendees appeared to have been “role-playing as protesters and police officers.” Police say they searched the site and seized stolen construction material Friday afternoon.

Later that night, about 200 people marched peacefully against the new president.

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Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.timesdispatch.com

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