The mayor of New York has warned protesters planning to demonstrate at the court hearing of former president Donald Trump that any violence or vandalism will not be tolerated.
Eric Adams in particular pointed to right-wing Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene who is planning to attend a pro-Trump rally in Manhattan on Tuesday.
He said Ms Greene was known to “spread hate speech” and he warned her and others “to be on your best behaviour”.
“While there may be some rabble-rousers thinking of coming to our city tomorrow, our message is clear and simple: control yourselves.”
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“New York is our home and not a place for your misplaced anger.”
Mr Adams said there were no specific threats of violence surrounding the planned appearance of Mr Trump in court on Tuesday afternoon.
He said New York authorities would not allow violence or vandalism to take place.
“If one is caught participating in any act of violence, they will be arrested and held accountable, no matter who you are,” he said.
Ms Greene accused the mayor of trying to intimidate and stop her from exercising her right to protest peacefully against the “unconstitutional weaponisation of the justice system” against the former president.
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Mr Trump arrived in New York on Monday from his home in Florida.
On Tuesday he will report to the office of the district attorney in Lower Manhattan. He will be fingerprinted and possibly photographed before being brought before a court.
The arraignment, where Mr Trump will be in court to hear charges and have a chance to enter a plea, is planned for 2.15pm (18.15 GMT) on Tuesday.
A judge last night ruled in an application brought by media organisations in the United States that still photographs will be permitted to be taken in court until proceedings get under way.
On the streets of New York City there was heightened security on Monday in advance of Mr Trump’s court hearing.
This will be the first time in US history that a former president has faced criminal charges.
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Along Fifth Avenue where Trump Tower is located and around the criminal court complex in Lower Manhattan crowd control barriers lined the pavements.
About 35,000 officers from the New York police department have been told to report for duty in uniform.
Demonstrations by his supporters are expected to take place.
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The key question is whether any protests will be peaceful or whether the court hearing could lead to an effective rerun of January 6th, 2021, when supporters of Mr Trump violently attacked the US Capitol building in Washington as members of Congress were certifying the victory of Joe Biden in the 2022 presidential election.
A grand jury in New York last week authorised that charges should be brought against Mr Trump.
The exact details of these charges are, as yet, unknown and may not be revealed until the arraignment hearing in the court.
However, the grand jury had been hearing details about at an investigation headed by the district attorney into a $130,000 payment made just before the 2016 presidential election to a porn star, allegedly to buy her silence about an affair with the then candidate Mr Trump.
He has repeatedly denied that he had any relationship with the adult film actor, Stormy Daniels.
She has claimed that she had sex with Mr Trump after meeting at a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada a decade earlier. She maintains that Mr Trump had promised to secure for her a role on his then TV programme, the celebrity apprentice, but that this had never materialised.
Mr Trump has claimed that the prosecution against him is politically motivated and represents “a witch hunt”.
Leading figures in Mr Trump’s Republican Party have largely backed his assertions and have criticised the district attorney in New York, who is a Democrat, for bringing the case.
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