The Double Standard for Policing Capitol Rioters and BLM Protesters
In June, Black Lives Matter demonstrators were met with a massive show of force from police and federal officers. The Trump insurrection that stormed the Capitol didn’t receive similar treatment.
Capitol Police are overwhelmed by pro-Trump rioters on Jan. 6.
Photographer: Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The world watched in shock as an unruly mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in an effort to overturn the results of the presidential election. The inability of the U.S. Capitol Police to stop the riot led to a catastrophic breach in national security and a reckoning over law enforcement in Washington, D.C.
Horrified onlookers including President-elect Joe Biden could not help but notice the striking contrast between the police response to Trump’s insurrection and the hard fist that met Black Lives Matter protests in June. During largely peaceful protests on June 1, D.C. police officers arrested 289 people, with federal officers tear-gassing demonstrators in Lafayette Square to clear the way for Trump’s infamous Bible photo-op at St. John’s Episcopal Church. By comparison, local police in Washington, D.C., who secured the Capitol grounds on Wednesday and enforced the 6 p.m. citywide curfew have made only 68 arrests as of Thursday morning.