TheBlack Lives Mattermovement is speaking out about the stark differences in how law enforcement has handled Wednesday’s riots at the U.S. Capitol compared to their response toprotests against racial injusticelast year.
Hours after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and occupied the Senate chamber, the Black Lives Matter Twitter account shared a lengthy thread calling out “hypocrisy in our country’s law enforcement response to protest.”
“Make no mistake, if the protesters were Black, we would have been tear gassed, battered, and perhaps shot,“another tweetread.
The account went on to “call on” PresidentDonald Trump— who addressed his supporters at a rally on Wednesday morning before they broke through the Capitol building’s barriers that afternoon — “to stop fanning the flames of violence and lawlessness, and unequivocally urge his white supremacist and terrorist followers to step down and retreat. Our democracy is under attack and he is the lead instigator.”
“We also urge Congress to promptly certify the U.S. Presidential election results and not cave to the threats of terrorists,” the accounttweeted.
Amid the chaos, which caused the building to go into a lockdown, numerous politicians such as Vice PresidentMike Penceand Biden,condemned the riotous actand urged Trump to speak out against the mounting violence.
Pro-Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol following a rally with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, Jan. 6.Samuel Corum/Getty
“President Trump, step up,” Biden saidduring a televised addressfrom Wilmington, Delaware.
“At this hour, our democracy is under unprecedented assault unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times. An assault in the citadel of liberty, the capital itself,” Biden said in his speech. “An assault on the people’s representatives and the Capitol Hill Police sworn to protect them. An assault on the rule of law like few times we’ve ever seen it. An assault on the most sacred of American undertakings, the doing of people’s business.”
Shortly after Biden’s speech,Trump tweeted a video to the rioters,saying “we love you, you’re very special,” and doubling down on the baseless claims of election fraud before adding, “we have to have peace, so go home.” (The video has been removed or restricted from social channels including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, due to “risk of violence.")
U.S. Capitol building breached.Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty
The National Guard has sincebeen activated, according to the acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller.
Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement on Wednesday that officials had previously onlyreceived two requests for the National Guard— one earlier this week for 340 guardsmen “to assist D.C. police in preparation for possible protests today” and one for “the full activation of the D.C. Guard to support local and federal law enforcement as they respond to the situation at the Capitol” — and both were approved.
“There have been no other requests from the D.C. government,” Hoffman said.
source: people.com
