United States: Protest by the lone Trumpists | A few hundred called for the liberation of the Capitol looters

From Washington DC

This time, the United States Capitol Police wanted to show that they could prepare. He installed a double fence around the Congress building in Washington, a row of police on horseback and another on bicycles, brought in a riot unit and made sure the National Guard was ready to respond quickly if necessary. All he did not do on January 6, when a Trump mob stormed the Capitol. But this time, the operation was overkill: Only a few hundred attended the demonstration called to protest the arrest of those who participated in the January uprising.

“Justice for 6E”, had baptized him the organizers, who are convinced that those who are still in prison, without bond, for the attack of last January undergo “political persecutions”. Corn Saturday’s protest was just a shadow of other initiatives that also point to a rewrite of what happened that day.

Low participation

Planned by Look Ahead America, an organization led by a former consultant for Donald trump, the demonstration is expected to receive approximately 750 followers according to the request presented to the mayor of the American capital. In reality, Capitol Police he estimates there was a maximum of 450 people in the area designated for the protest, a number that includes media teams.

Intrepid by the low participation rate, Matt Braynard, the leader of the organizing organization, spoke from a desk and gave his opinion on various cases of demonstrators on January 6 still in prison. When displaying an image of the QAnon shaman, the far-right conspiracy theory that fuels part of Trumpism, Braynard ironically said the man was accused simply of “dressing horribly.” “No matter what he did that day, he doesn’t deserve nine months of solitary confinement without a conviction,” he said.

“Fair treatment”

Flags of the North American country, the demonstrators sought to denounce that there are “American protesters illegally imprisoned” as part of the investigation into the events of January 6, according to one of the posters they carried. . That day, a crowd of Trump supporters took to Capitol Hill, where the triumph of Joe biden in the presidential elections.

For those who demand “fair treatment” and that justice follow “due process”, the demonstrators of January 6 were “patriots” who exercised their right only to express themselves. “Now, to enter a place without permission, they call the insurgency”said one of the posters for the walk this Saturday. This is the story that Trumpism is telling itself.

Ashli ​​babbit

During the march, the demonstrators sang the hymn and shouted the name of Ashli ​​Babbitt, the woman killed by a police officer during the uprising. After Braynard’s words, they left the area in small groups.

This was not the first protest to support those jailed for entering the Capitol in January. Two months ago, a similar protest gathered in front of the Justice Department and brought together figures such as the Republican MP Marjorie Taylor Greene, Trump player and QAnon supporter.

But this time, theories and paranoia affected the march itself: far-right groups like Proud boys, who were in Washington on January 6, this time discouraged their supporters and asked them not to attend. For them, the demonstration was only a government trap to identify those who attacked the Capitol.