After a storm-related delay, US President Donald Trump took the stage on the National Mall on Saturday to deliver a campaign-style speech to mark the country’s 250th anniversary.
Trump said he would have been willing to wait longer if necessary. “There’s no way we can be deterred,” he said.
Authorities allowed the crowd to return to an open field near the Washington Monument where Trump was due to speak, after ordering a weather-related evacuation that forced spectators to shelter in nearby museums and government buildings for a few hours.
Visitors had waited hours to get into the event, contending with stepped-up security and temperatures that reached 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit). The record-breaking heatwave forced the cancellation of several parades and other events in the area.
“It’s just part of the deal I signed up for,” said Glen Solander, 60, a software engineer visiting from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as he waited at a security checkpoint on Saturday afternoon.
Other visitors included the white nationalist organisation Patriot Front. The group posted on social media that it had arrived in the capital, and hundreds of people wearing the group’s outfits travelled to the city on metro trains serving the District of Columbia region. Local police said they had not received any reports of violence.