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WASHINGTON: Five days after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, new videos reveal the level of violence that left lawmakers cowering and police calling for backup.
The images that were disseminated on social networks show a policeman dragged and beaten on the ground; protesters yelling to “hang” Vice President Mike Pence; and a herd of protesters who turned up looking for senior officials inside the building.
The videos, which have been spreading constantly on the Internet since the January 6 riots, show Trump supporters as far more aggressive and violent than the images seen that day.
“Almost half of the House nearly died on Wednesday,” said Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calling it an “insurrection against the United States.”
Five people died on Capitol Hill that day: a police officer allegedly hit in the head with a fire extinguisher; a protester who was shot by police inside the main congress building when trying to break down a door; and three other “medical emergencies” protesters during the riot.
Another Capitol police officer reportedly committed suicide four days after the attack. It is unknown if the two events were related.
Participants in the assault on the United States Congress arrived with helmets, gas masks, shields, and climbing gear. (Photo: AFP / Joseph Prezioso)
MORE SCARY THAN IRAQ
The first videos showed a boisterous crowd making their way, without particular coordination, passing the police to break into the Capitol.
But the most recent images show organized groups among the larger crowd, many in military assault-style uniforms, massively attacking outnumbered police officers with masts, batons, hockey sticks and chemical sprays. One person attacked the officers with a crutch.
In another video, an officer screams in pain as he is crushed between two swinging doors as protesters push from the side and police push back. A protester tried to remove the officer’s gas mask.
Since many of the protesters are known to belong to armed militia groups, and after two homemade bombs were discovered in nearby buildings, police and lawmakers saw a serious threat.
“I have spoken with officers who have done two tours in Iraq and I tell them that this scared them more than their time in combat,” said Washington Police Chief Robert Contee.
Supporters of United States President Donald Trump climb the walls of the United States Capitol during a protest against the certification of the results of the 2020 United States presidential elections by the United States Congress on January 6, 2021 (Photo: Reuters / Stephanie Keith).
“HANGING PENCE”
One target of the crowd’s ire was Pence, who had rebuffed pressure from Trump to halt proceedings in Congress that day that would confirm Joe Biden, and not Trump, as the clear winner of the November 3 election.
“Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution,” Trump tweeted as the protesters arrived at the Capitol.
The buildings were ordered closed, and when the vice president was moved to a secret and secure location inside the congressional compound outside, a video was shown, the crowd chanted, “Hang Mike Pence.”
Rioters in the United States Capitol. (Photo: AFP / Saul Loeb)
Damage after protesters stormed the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021 (Photo: AP / Andrew Harnik)
Inside, the video shows men dressed in combat gear wearing many zippered plastic handcuffs, suggesting they hoped to capture elected officials.
Lawmakers took cover: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described how they closed doors, turned off lights and hid under tables for two and a half hours before controlling the crowd.
Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund said the threat was clear from the start.
“As soon as they got to the fence line, the fight started,” he told The Washington Post.
“They came with riot gear, gas masks, shields, pepper spray, fireworks, climbing gear, climbing gear, explosives, metal pipes, baseball bats,” he said.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in 30 years of events in Washington.”
Supporters of President Donald Trump violently attacked police during the siege of the US Capitol. (Photo: AFP / Roberto Schmidt)
Sund, who resigned over the staggering failure to defend the US legislature, said that two days earlier he had urged the mobilization of the National Guard to protect the white-domed Capitol building.
But House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving told him that the appearance of uniformed troops on the building’s steps would look bad.
On the day of the attack, Sund said the Pentagon was reluctant to deploy the National Guard.
Half an hour after the arrival of the protesters, he called for reinforcements. But again they told him it would not look good.
The National Guard troops finally mobilized, but only arrived after the fighting stopped and the Washington police secured the building.
“This is how electoral results are contested in a banana republic, not in our democratic republic,” said former President George W. Bush.
