Note; As of writing this article, only four arrest have been reported from the hundreds of vandals that broke into and trashed capital hill
Civil rights leaders blasted law enforcement agencies for their slow response to rioters at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, noting the massive show of police force in place for Black Lives Matter demonstrations last year over police killings of unarmed Black men and women.
“When Black folks are protesting and progressives are protesting peacefully they were tear-gassed, they were arrested, they were shot with rubber bullets. They were shot with real bullets,” said Derrick Johnson, president of the national NAACP. “We watched it take place all summer long when people were peacefully demonstrating.”
As thousands of people of color and allies took to the streets this summer to peacefully protest police brutality, law enforcement often clashed with demonstrators, deploying tear gas and rubber bullets, bruising faces and bodies, including countless arrest, which took place in different states.
But as thousands of President Donald Trump supporters, mostly white, marched to the Capitol Wednesday and broke into the building as lawmakers were convening to count presidential electoral votes, forcing lawmakers and staff to shelter in place, crowds of law enforcement were notably absent and the ones that were there did not react to the intruders even after they illegally broke into Capitol Hill.
Trump, who previously characterized Black Lives Matter protesters as “thugs,” referred to the people involved in the riots Wednesday as “great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long.”
