The security fence around the perimeter of the US Capitol complex will be removed starting next week, more than six months after the Jan. 6 riot that led to its construction, Fox News reported Thursday.

Two rings of fencing were erected after supporters of former President Donald Trump breached the Capitol complex on Jan. 6, interrupting the congressional count of the electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election.

The outer ring of fencing was removed in March, after House Sergeant-at-Arms Tim Blodgett told lawmakers that “there does not exist a known, credible threat against Congress or the Capitol Complex that warrants the temporary security fencing.”

Lawmakers from both parties, as well as local officials in Washington, had objected to the prolonged presence of the fencing, claiming it turned the Capitol into a foreboding fortress rather than the open, welcoming “People’s House.”

“We want it to be free and open,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) told Fox News. “The House did pass a bill that would put a lot more money in the Capitol Police and the kind of training and the resources necessary if there were an attack. And I think that’ll be fine.

“It also is a terrible signal,” Beyer continued. “As we call it, ‘Baghdad on the Potomac,’ we don’t want this to be like the Green Zone.”

The inner fencing marks the last vestige of the major security operation that took over the nation’s capital following the riot and leading up to the inauguration of Joe Biden as president. At one point, approximately 5,200 National Guard troops stood watch over the Capitol complex. The last of those forces left the District of Columbia in late May.

“The fence is one of the ways they justify continuing to talk about January 6,” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) told Fox. “Is there still some threat? They’ve got us walking through magnetometers. Members of Congress are no threat to each other, but they want to keep the focus on what happened on January 6. And then, somehow, Trump is still a problem out there that Americans are concerned about. And we’re just not. This is just, it’s pure politics. This fence is in no way going to be needed now or in the future.”

This week, the House voted to approve a resolution by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to form a 13-member Select Committee to investigate the riot.

Despite the pending removal of the fence, Fox News reported that there are still questions about whether the US Capitol Police can adequately defend the complex, with one source saying: “We don’t know that we are in a better position than we were on January 5.”

The US Capitol Police did not immediately respond for requests for comment.