(Reuters) – The National Park Service said Friday it was immediately closing the National Mall and iconic U.S. landmarks in Washington to visitors through at least Jan. 21 amid an unprecedented boost in security ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
The Mall includes landmarks like the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials and Washington Monument.
The area around the White House has also been closed, as has a key bridge over the Potomac River that connects Virginia to Washington, as well as East and West Potomac Parks, including Hains Point, which are near the Mall.
“We cannot allow a recurrence of the chaos and illegal activity that the United States and the world witnessed last week,” Matthew Miller, the head of the Secret Service’s Washington field office, told reporters.
Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, told CNN that Biden’s team had decided to delay the inauguration rehearsal by one day due to “some of the online chatter talks about Sunday the 17th.”
A U.S. official said the number of National Guard troops is expected to rise to 25,000 in Washington, D.C., though an official request may take some time.
(Reporting by David Shepardson and Idrees Ali; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Aurora Ellis)
