LOVELAND, Ohio —

Drivers heading down Lebanon Road in Symmes Township and Loveland Friday afternoon saw dozens of protesters lining both sides of the road.

The group held Ukrainian flags and signs, of support for Ukraine and condemnation for Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"We are strong. We are small," one man chanted. "By our heart, by our soul and the bravery, we're much stronger."

The group rallied in solidarity with Ukraine. The protest was organized by two women who lived in Ukraine and have family still there. Nazly Mamedova is one of them.

"I have family members who left about a week ago and then some family members weren't able to leave," she said. "They're sending us videos of people being bombed."

Mary Smethurst, a Loveland resident, joined the protest after seeing it live on WLWT.

"We are behind the people in Ukraine," she said.

"Ukraine means a lot to us. My daughter was in Ukraine as a Peace Corps volunteer for two years, so we got to go. We spent two weeks in 2006, and the people were just lovely," she said. "All these months that people have been talking about what's going to happen and you just feel like how could you live that, knowing that any day you 're going to be invaded."

Many who attended the rally had ties to Ukraine, Russia or Georgia.

"Children were sent off, whoever was willing to send off their children and they placed on the blood markers to know what... what blood to give them if something happens," Mamedova said through tears. "No one understands why this is happening except the ambitions of President Putin."

That is her reason for protesting, as well as her family members still in Ukraine, like her grandparents who are in their 90s.

"People there are very scared," she said. "There's no winners in war."

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Protesters dressed in salon gear took to the street outside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home Thursday.

In video of the protest, some demonstrators are seen with curlers in their hair, plastic is draped over them and hair dryers hang from trees.

The rally came two days after video of Pelosi getting her hair cut inside a California salon surfaced.

California Governor Gavin Newsom lifted restrictions on hair salons serving customers indoors at the end of last month. However, the city of San Francisco still requires such services to only be provided outside.

Pelosi says the salon told her it would be OK to come inside, because they are only accommodating one person at a time.

She also claims the whole thing was a set-up, since the video was released to the media by the salon's owner, KGO reports.

A photo of Pelosi on the same visit shows her wearing a mask around her neck instead of on her face. She says that's because she had just had her hair washed.

A police officer has died from injuries sustained as President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol, a violent siege that is forcing hard questions about the defeated president's remaining days in office and the ability of the Capitol Police to secure the area.

The U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement that Officer Brian D. Sicknick was injured “while physically engaging with protesters" during the Wednesday riot. He is the fifth person to die because of the melee.

The rampage that has shocked the world and left the country on edge forced the resignations of three top Capitol security officials over the failure to stop the breach. It led lawmakers to demand a review of operations and an FBI briefing over what they called a “terrorist attack.” And it is prompting a broader reckoning over Trump’s tenure in office and what comes next for a torn nation.

Protesters were urged by Trump during a rally near the White House earlier Wednesday to head to Capitol Hill, where lawmakers were scheduled to confirm Biden’s presidential victory. The mob swiftly broke through police barriers, smashed windows and paraded through the halls, sending lawmakers into hiding.

Five have died because of the Capitol siege. One protester, a white woman, was shot to death by Capitol Police, and there were dozens of arrests. Three other people died after “medical emergencies” related to the breach.

Despite Trump’s repeated claims of voter fraud, election officials and his own former attorney general have said there were no problems on a scale that would change the outcome. All the states have certified their results as fair and accurate, by Republican and Democratic officials alike.

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said news of the police officer’s death was “gut-wrenching.”

“None of this should have happened,” Sasse said in a statement. “Lord, have mercy.”

Sicknick had returned to his division office after the incident and collapsed, the statement said. He was taken to a local hospital where he died on Thursday.

Two House Democrats on committees overseeing the Capitol police budgets said those responsible need to be held to answer for the “senseless” death.

"We must ensure that the mob who attacked the People’s House and those who instigated them are held fully accountable,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Ct., and Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio. in a statement.

Earlier Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said any remaining day with the president in power could be “a horror show for America.” Likewise, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the attack on the Capitol was “an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president," and Trump must not stay in office “one day” longer.

Pelosi and Schumer called for invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to force Trump from office before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20. Schumer said he and Pelosi tried to call Vice President Mike Pence early Thursday to discuss that option but were unable to connect with him.

At least one Republican lawmaker joined the effort. The procedure allows for the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare the president unfit for office. The vice president then becomes acting president.

Pelosi said if the president’s Cabinet does not swiftly act, the House may proceed to impeach Trump.

Trump, who had repeatedly refused to concede the election, did so in a late Thursday video from the White House vowing a “seamless transition of power.”

Two Republicans who led efforts to challenge the election results, Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri, faced angry peers in the Senate. Cruz defended his objection to the election results as “the right thing to do” as he tried unsuccessfully to have Congress launch an investigation. In the House, Republican leaders Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California and Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana joined in the failed effort to overturn Biden’s win by objecting to the Electoral College results.

With tensions high, the Capitol shuttered and lawmakers not scheduled to return until the inauguration, an uneasy feeling of stalemate settled over a main seat of national power as Trump remained holed up at the White House.

The social media giant Facebook banned the president from its platform and Instagram for the duration of Trump's final days in office, if not indefinitely, citing his intent to stoke unrest. Twitter had silenced him the day before.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said “the shocking events" make it clear Trump “intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power.”

U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, under pressure from Schumer, Pelosi and other congressional leaders, was forced to resign. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asked for and received the resignation of the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate, Michael Stenger, effective immediately. Paul Irving, the longtime Sergeant at Arms of the House, also resigned.

Sund had defended his department’s response to the storming of the Capitol, saying officers had “acted valiantly when faced with thousands of individuals involved in violent riotous actions.”

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called the police response “a failure.”

Lawmakers from both parties pledged to investigate and questioned whether a lack of preparedness allowed a mob to occupy and vandalize the building. The Pentagon and Justice Department had been rebuffed when they offered assistance.

Black lawmakers, in particular, noted the way the mostly white Trump supporters were treated.

Newly elected Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., said if “we, as Black people did the same things that happened ... the reaction would have been different, we would have been laid out on the ground.”

The protesters ransacked the place, taking over the House area and Senate chamber and waving Trump, American and Confederate flags. Outside, they scaled the walls and balconies.

Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., a former police chief, said it was “painfully obvious” that Capitol police “were not prepared.”

WASHINGTON —

In a city still on edge after the Jan. 6 insurrection, law enforcement bore down in large numbers on the Capitol on Saturday over concerns that a rally in support of the jailed rioters would turn violent. It didn’t.

The crowd was sparse and incidents were few. The only clear parallels to the riots more than eight months ago by supporters of Donald Trump were the false claims put forth by the rally organizers about the violence that January day when Congress met to certify the election of Joe Biden.

Video above: Heavy security at Capitol riot supporters' rally

The low turnout also called into question whether such rallies will have any staying power as the organizers attempt to tap into the rage of Jan. 6 without the presence of the former president.

Law enforcement had prepared for a confrontation by erecting temporary fencing around the Capitol and deploying heavy dump trucks to ring the rally site. Local police departments and the U.S. National Guard were on standby.

The security might have been unnecessary in the end, but the volatility around the lie that the 2020 election was stolen and the presence of extremists and white nationalist groups on Jan. 6 have made it impossible to predict how such events will go.

U.S. Capitol Police said they received intelligence information leading up to the weekend that was similar to what was missed in January when law enforcement was only expecting a free speech protest and Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol.

Republican lawmakers, including those who had voted that day to challenge Biden’s election, avoided Saturday’s rally. Rally organizer Matt Braynard took elected officials to task for not backing up those now in jail and introduced candidates who are running for elected office.

Counterprotesters stood by and jeered. Some held anti-Trump signs and one man who had confronted some of the pro-Trump protesters was quickly removed by police, who used bicycles to shield him from the crowd as they escorted him down the street.

One person was arrested in the crowd for carrying a knife and a second man was arrested after someone reported to officers that they saw him carrying what appeared to be a handgun, police said. Two other people who police say were wanted in Texas – for a firearms charge and probation violation – were also arrested after being pulled over near the Capitol Saturday morning.

Braynard, a former Trump campaign staffer, opened in calm and deliberate tones. He said the event was for the defendants held behind bars.

On Jan.6, dozens of law enforcement officers were left bloodied and beaten as the crowd of pro-Trump rioters, some armed with pipes, bats and bear spray, charged into the Capitol, quickly overrunning the overwhelmed police force. One officer was beaten and shocked with a stun gun repeatedly until he had a heart attack; another was foaming at the mouth and screaming for help as rioters crushed him between two doors and bashed him in the head with his own weapon.

The Associated Press reviewed hundreds of court and jail records for the Capitol riot defendants to uncover how many were being detained and found roughly 63 held in federal custody awaiting trial or sentencing hearings.

At least 30 are jailed in Washington. The rest are locked up in facilities across the country. They have said they are being treated unfairly, and one defendant said he was beaten.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has set standards for judges to apply in deciding whether to jail a Capitol riot defendant. A three-judge panel of the appeals court ruled in March that rioters accused of assaulting officers, breaking through windows, doors and barricades, or playing leadership roles in the attack were in “a different category of dangerousness” than those who merely cheered on the violence or entered the building after it was breached.

Among the rally speakers was the girlfriend of Jonathan Mellis, who was seen on camera on Jan. 6 using a stick to attack officers who were outside the Capitol trying to hold back the mob, authorities said.

Mellis was heard saying “knock their masks off,” and video shows him repeatedly striking and stabbing at officers with the stick, according to court documents. Authorities said in court documents that he appeared to be trying to hit the officers’ necks between their helmets and body armor, where they had no protection.

Other defendants ordered locked up while they await trial include a man accused of dragging a police officer down steps to be beaten by an American flag and another man accused of leading a group of rioters up the Capitol steps to confront officers.

But judges have released the vast majority of the defendants, including more than a dozen members and associates of the Oath Keepers, a far-right group, who are charged in perhaps the most serious case brought so far in the attack. Only three people charged in the Oath Keepers conspiracy case remain locked up after judges said they appeared to play a leadership role in the alleged conspiracy.

Authorities have said the Oath Keepers prepared in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 as if they were heading to war, came to Washington ready for violence and dressed that day in battle gear, wearing helmets and tactical vests.

___

Richer reported from Boston. Associated Press writers Michael Kunzelman, Mary Clare Jalonick, Jacques Billeaud, Lisa Mascaro, Amanda Seitz, Ashraf Khalil and Robert Burns contributed to this report.

CINCINNATI —

As COVID-19 restrictions get lifted, more communities are making plans to make summer more fun.

Outdoor events are slowly returning including many concerts.

"We're ready. We're excited. We think it's time," said Jim Miller, lead singer of Dangerous Jim and the Slims.

Miller said he already booked concerts in Greenhills, Lawrenceburg and Hamilton.

"Rockin' the Roebling, we'll be doing that," Miller said. "I'm sure that people will be booking as much outside stuff as possible."

Party on the purple returns on Wednesdays starting next week.

In West Chester, Takeover at the Square and Keehner Park concerts will be returning late June.

Music in Mason will also be bringing back tunes to the Mason plaza.

"That was actually a very big generator of business for us. So, to see those things being brought back in a safe manner, I think is going to be great for us," said Matt Imm, owner of Quatman Cafe' in Mason.

The city of Hamilton has a jam-packed schedule of outdoor events starting this Saturday with a Main Street spring shop hop. Alive After 5, concerts at RiversEdge and many other activities are also on the calendar.

After taking a year off, one of the largest food truck rallies in the region is headed back to West Chester.

"We have about 40 food trucks and other vendors that will be here ready to get our grub on," said Kerry Hendel, vice president of the Union Centre Boulevard Merchant Association. "We also bring in people from northern Kentucky, from over in Indiana as well. So, people who have seen our township before get to experience it for the first time."

Depending on where the event is, who is hosting it and the number of people attending, some restrictions could be in place.

Since state and federal guidelines can change day by day, so can the guidelines for different events.