Man arrested after guillotine seized from pickup truck near US Supreme Court

The truck was spotted illegally parked just after 3pm on Tuesday, August 25.

Now, a 35-year-old man has been arrested by officers from the USCP, having driven across the US from California to Washington DC.

A spokesman said: "The United States Capitol Police (USCP) seized a guillotine, which was spotted in the bed of a pickup truck along the 100 block of East Capitol Street.

"Just after 3pm on Tuesday, August 25, USCP officers noticed the pickup truck, which was illegally parked.

"The suspect 35-year-old Philan-Tam-Duy Le of Julian, CA, was arrested for Carrying a Dangerous Weapon for being in possession of the guillotine.

"The suspect drove here from California. USCP investigators are going through the suspect’s background to learn more about why he came to Washington, DC."

The guillotine is most famously associated with the French Revolution, becoming a symbol of violence during the infamous "Reign of Terror" during which at least 35,000 people were executed.

King Louis XVI was publicly executed in January 1793, with the National Convention condemning him to death with a majority of a single vote.

It was still used for executions in France until capital punishment was abolished in 1981 under President François Mitterrand and his justice minister Robert Badinter.

The final person to be executed by guillotine in France was Hamida Djandoubi, a Tunisian criminal convicted of the kidnapping, torture and murder of Élisabeth Bousquet, a 21-year-old woman whom he had forced into prostitution. He was executed in 1977.

During the January 6 riots in December 2021, a set of gallows were built overlooking the US Capitol building.

Rioters had chanted "Hang Mike Pence", a reference to Mr Trump’s former vice-president who refused to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory.

The image of the gallows outside the US Capitol became one of the most defining images of the January 6 attack.

Despite the widespread publication of the image, the individuals who constructed the gallows have never been identified.

In May 2022, a man was found guilty and convicted of threatening an MP by holding up a makeshift gallows with a noose outside Parliament.

Lance O’Connor, 57, had denied targeting Hove MP and future Business Secretary Peter Kyle in Parliament Square.

Mr Kyle, 51, told Westminster Magistrates Court how a man shouted to him: "This is what we do with traitors’

District Judge Neeta Minhas gave O’Connor a conditional discharge and was ordered to pay £660 including £200 to Mr Kyle.

Last month, the Metropolitan Police confirmed it will take no further action against Green Party leader Zack Polanski after he re-posted a photo of a man wearing a T-shirt with an image of a guillotine and the slogan "we’re only making plans for Nigel".

Reform UK said on Monday the party had reported Mr Polanski to the police, with leader Nigel Farage calling for his arrest.

Officers reviewed the reports and decided no further action will be taken in relation to the sharing of the image online, the force said.

A Green Party spokesperson said: “The police have examined the evidence and concluded that no crime was committed.”

The spokesperson said “this was obvious from the start” and claimed Reform UK was “always using this as a political football for their own cynical purposes to distract from questions” about how Mr Farage’s party is funded.