Journalists in the Capitol caught rioters breaking windows and trying to American flag outside the building with a Trump flag. They picked up Trump supporters wandering around the halls of the building. And how the Capitol police handled it – or not – did not go unnoticed on social media, where reporters, historians and activists spoke out against what they saw as hypocrisy: an overwhelming white crowd acting violently was treated gently compared to peaceful protesters in Washington and across the country during the protests over the murder of Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis.
Rep. Cori Bush (D-Missouri), a veteran of Black Lives Matters protests in Ferguson, Missouri, appeared on MSNBC on Wednesday night criticizing the divergent treatment.
‘It was almost as if there was a call [for the police] not to use force, “Bush said. ‘There are photos and videos of police officers just walking away. …. Were these people who looked like me. Was it the same amount of people, but were they black and brown? We would not have made up those steps. We would not have managed to enter through the door and windows and put our feet on the desks of the members of Congress. We would not have come this far. We would have been shot. We would have shed tears. …. We must call it what it is. This is white supremacy. ”
Politicians, former officials, activists and others on social media vented their anger and tweeted ‘#ThisisAmerica’ which posted photos and videos showing the different ways black and brown protesters were treated by the police compared to the Capitol insurgents.
Police’s treatment of rioters “says a lot about who is a hostile fighter and who is not – and how the Capitol Hill police were not ready for this,” said Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, the country’s largest online organization for racial justice. .
“This is an example of all the ways in which these people, in turn, have had some of the ugliest, most hateful, and most violent interactions – that they still got the benefit of the doubt when they showed up in Washington,” he said. he said. added.
Robinson said the extremists who stormed the Capitol should not be considered protesters. “It was domestic terrorism,” he said.
On Wednesday, Rep.Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who is accused of funding the Capitol Police as chairman of the Subcommittee on the Law on the Rioters Act who seized the Capitol Building. Ryan said officers had made ‘strategic mistakes’ and promised that there would be a number of people who would be many, soon without jobs. ‘
Videos of the chaos inside the Capitol showed extremists in the rooms of the House and Senate throughout the building – and one specific case widely shared online showed a man sitting with his feet on Pelosi’s desk and leaves a note that reads, ‘We will not return. ”
That man, later identified by a New York Times reporter as Richard ‘Bigo’ Barnett of Gravette, Ark., Was later outside the Capitol and recounting his time in Pelosi’s office. At the time of his exit from the Capitol, he was not in police custody. Reports did not confirm whether he was one of the rioters arrested on Wednesday night.
Another clip on Twitter showed a riot taking a selfie with a police officer in the Capitol.
‘It’s a dark day in America when a United States police officer decides to take a selfie with a TERRORISM! And they wonder why WE do not feel safe! “The NAACP posted the video on Twitter.
Trump, in turn, waited about an hour after his supporters began creating chaos outside the Capitol to send out a tweet asking them to “remain peaceful.” After hours of chaos scenes that aired on live television, he finally tweeted a video falsely claiming that the presidential election had been stolen from him and encouraged his supporters to go home.
“We can not play into the hands of these people,” Trump said in a video that Twitter later removed from his account, which was closed until 7 a.m. Thursday. “We must have peace. So go home. We love you. You are very special. ‘
In one tweet, he said, “Remember, we are the Party of Law & Order” – a message he repeatedly said on the campaign trail when he portrayed Democrats as violent protesters.
In contrast, Trump celebrated the “many arrests” the day after his photo-shoot last summer, boasting that “Washington, DC was the safest place on earth last night!”
As of Wednesday night, 13 people have been arrested in connection with the riots, Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said at a news conference. Contee said several officers were injured. One woman was also shot in the Capitol and later pronounced dead.
More than 14,000 arrests were made across the country last year, according to the George Floyd protests Public citizen, a progressive advocacy group that monitors the impact of corporate influence on policy.
Rep. Karen Bass (D-California) has thrilled Trump supporters – who were widely critical of the Black Lives Matter protests – over the attack on law enforcement.
“The people who break into the Capitol are the same people who shout about law and order when there are Black Lives Matter protests,” she posted on Twitter. “The people who are currently attacking Capitol police officers are the same people who say they stand with the police.”
Democrats and activists quickly pointed out on Wednesday afternoon that the Capitol police’s response to the protesters was was noticeably different even from their daily enforcement measures. CNN was asked if Black Lives Matter protesters would be treated the same way as the rioters if they stormed the Capitol building, Mayor Muriel Bowser did not respond.
#AmeriKKKa took to Twitter on Wednesday night, with thousands of reports pointing to the difference in law enforcement’s response to the Black Lives Matter protests and the extremists who stormed the Capitol.