LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
Here in Washington this weekend, miles of fencing snake through the city, and a division's worth of National Guardsmen, more than 20,000, has been called up. The National Mall is closed to the public. Major roads and bridges are blocked off. Security checkpoints ring a so-called red zone around the monumental core of D.C., accessible only to authorities. And that's been augmented by a series of extensions called green zones, themselves restricted to residents and local businesses. All that among the gleaming white colonnades of downtown Washington, D.C., the federal seat purpose-built to show off American democracy. And it's all to secure Wednesday's inaugural proceedings, the ritual celebrating a point of American pride - the regular and peaceful transfer of power. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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