How long will barricades remain outside downtown Raleigh’s Capitol, Governor’s Mansion?

Three months have passed since the last person got arrested at a downtown Raleigh protest, and nearly six have gone by since the demonstrations drew mass crowds or turned destructive.

But the most common scenes of downtown unrest remain surrounded by metal barricades, and Capitol police say the fences will stay up for the foreseeable future.

Raleigh’s Capitol is fenced on all sides, its grounds off-limits to the public. The Governor’s Mansion, already protected by a brick wall and metal gate, remains guarded by an added barrier blocking the brick sidewalk on Person Street.

“We certainly want our government complexes open to the public,” Gov. Roy Cooper said at a Tuesday news conference, citing both museums being open and the General Assembly in session downtown. “We want people downtown and taking part in our government processes.”

‘Level of threat has been raised’

Capitol police spokesman Clyde Roper noted that on Jan. 27, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a terrorism advisory bulletin due to a heightened threat environment nationwide. The threat is expected to persist in the weeks following President Joe Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

“Information suggests that some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition,” the bulletin said, “as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence.”

Cooper said he will look into the fencing issue and see if there is a timeline.

“Obviously, with the insurrection and attack on the Capitol, the level of threat has been raised and I know law enforcement is concerned,” Cooper said.

But in the neighborhoods around downtown, residents wonder how long the city will show a defensive face, bracing for a riot. Two people arrived at Raleigh’s Capitol on Biden’s inauguration day, one holding a sign that read “Love Your Neighbor” and the other carrying a Confederate flag.

Raleigh has precious few green spaces around downtown, and places that have historically served as gathering spaces are getting squeezed out by overblown fear, said Tina Govan, a Raleigh architect. Keeping that space accessible, she added, is key to showing the city’s spirit.

“We live here,” she said. “We’ve lived near downtown for more than 30 years, and we have a daily ritual of walking our dog around downtown, and that is one of the few green spaces we really love. We really love being able to enter that square from the corner and walk past the fountains. ... There’s police cars there now. We feel excluded.”

Confederate monuments removed

The Capitol’s Confederate monuments were spray-painted last summer, and protesters pulled parts of them down before Gov. Roy Cooper ordered them removed for public safety reasons.

The Capitol building suffered no damage, but it has seen hundreds of protesters since the COVID-19 pandemic drew ReopenNC to its grounds, some of its members carrying guns.

Many other Black Lives Matter demonstrations centered around the Capitol after the deaths of George Floyd and Jacob Blake, where protesters crossed or tore down some of the barriers, getting pepper-sprayed by police.

Govan posted to Facebook about her objections and drew mostly supportive responses.

But one local historian noted that the Capitol has been surrounded by fencing before. Until 1898, a cast-iron fence ringed the square to keep livestock from wandering inside.

This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 2:51 PM with the headline "How long will barricades remain outside downtown Raleigh’s Capitol, Governor’s Mansion?."