MICHIGAN, USA — Thursday marks the one year anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Could another insurrection occur and how are incidents in Michigan associated with the attack?
University of Michigan political experts weigh in on the topic.
In Spring 2020, there was an armed protest in the Michigan State Capitol. Experts are wondering if whether that protest was a prelude to what happened in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6.
The answer could be revealed in future court proceedings.
"The Lansing protest was not only a bell weather of anger, but also perhaps some kind of operational blueprint to how to then conduct something similar on the U.S. Capitol," said Javed Ali, the Assoc. Professor of Practice at Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.
Six months after this protest, there was the plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer, and three months later; the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Ali said these events are part of a new wave of domestic extremism that are more focused on the far-right, white supremacists, Nazis, people who are anti-government and conspiracy theorists.
"Whether or not we'll have another incident depends primarily on the actions the courts take in terms of the prosecutions that the justice department is involved with over 700 individuals," said Michael W. Traugott, Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies and Political Science.
There hasn't been violence or a large-scale plot in Michigan since the insurrection, but Ali doesn't think the threat has diminished.
"I think there's still a large number of people who are angry and upset and a number of grievances that are affecting them, but we haven't seen the level of activity either in terms of arrests or successful attacks like in years past I think we need more time to understand how this will play out in the future," Ali said.
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