Right-wing media has long been convinced any pallets of bricks are solely the property of anti-fascist activists.
And on Friday night, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) was tripped up over the conspiracy theory.
“@CapitolPolice why are there 20 pallets of bricks one block from the House Office Buildings?” Boebert tweeted, apparently alluding to the standard bricks the right believes are owned by potential antifa activists.
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Yet as it turned out, the bricks are part of an ongoing construction project on First Street in Washington D.C., according to signs right next to the pallets.
“Permit’s name: CAPITOL PAVING OF D.C., INC,” read one sign noting that parking near the construction site would be prohibited till the end of the month.
The District Department of Transportation’s website also states the back alley in question on the 410 block of First Street remains “under construction.”
Elsewhere near the bricks, one can clearly see that a back-alley street is being ripped up and a bulldozer is nearby.
As of Saturday afternoon, a crew of construction workers had covered the bricks with tarps and began pouring concrete in the back alley.
Construction workers also told The Daily Beast that police contacted them and mandated that they cover the bricks.
“Police [Metropolitan PD] came and said there might be a protest,” one worker added.
Boebert didn’t return The Daily Beast’s text message request for comment on Friday night.
Back in the summer of 2020, as Black Lives Matter demonstrations swept the country, frequently conspiracy theories spawned surrounding “mysterious” bricks. Furthermore, anytime conservative journalists or activists saw a pallet of bricks in a metropolitan city, they would quickly conclude the bricks were owned by antifa members and intended for destruction.
“There is no evidence of an organized effort to intentionally place bricks near Black Lives Matter protest sites,” the Anti-Defamation League noted at the time.
