Mob invasion of US Capitol was far more dangerous than mere vandalism - it was a violent assault with some of the mob being armed; One police officer died

Last updated on 13th Jan. 2021

Initial reports by mainstream US media of the mob invasion of US Capitol portrayed the mob actions as vandalism and desecration. Some of these reports are linked to in my previous post: Good to see US Congress back at work to formally confirm Joe Biden's election as President, after sad desecration of US Capitol by mob, https://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2021/01/good-to-see-us-congress-back-to-work-to.html . 

Later reports, however, portrayed a very scary scenario showing violent confrontation between some of the mob and Capitol police. Very sadly, one police officer died reportedly due to violent assault on him by one or more persons from the mob. One or more of the videos listed below shows a horrific video clip of a police officer being crushed between the mob, a riot shield and a door, with the police officer screaming for help.

One video report mentions that some persons in the mob had weapons (guns, one presumes)!

There are reports that some in this mob wanted to do physical harm to some members of US Congress!

Hmm. I had never imagined that I would see such a violent assault on US Capitol while Congress was formalizing the election of a new President (President-elect Joe Biden) who defeated the sitting President (President Trump), by a mob of what seem to be US citizens and supporters of the sitting President, intent on preventing formalization of that election of a new President. I mean, this is the most militarily powerful country and the oldest democracy in the world. Note that legal challenges were made to the election results in the courts of USA by the sitting President and his team, and these legal challenges failed. So as per the system followed by USA, all democratic and legal options to the sitting President (Trump) to challenge the election result stating that his competitor (Biden) had won, had been exhausted! Then this mob tried violent assault on US Capitol to prevent that transition from progressing further!

Let us hope and pray that steps will be taken to prevent recurrence of such horrible and sorry events in future in USA, the most militarily powerful country in the world and what had been in the past, a beacon for democracy, the world over. Very unfortunately for a lover of democracy like me, I don't think one can say today that USA is a beacon for democracy the world over. I hope and pray that USA will soon reacquire the status of being a beacon for democracy the world over.

Trump remains out of sight amid growing calls for resignation, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqzXgoH3STE, 7 min. 14 secs, published by ABC News on 8th Jan. 2021

Trump branded “embarrassment to his country” as he shuns Biden inauguration - BBC News, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6Ib927InXY, 4 min. 54 secs, published on 8th Jan. 2021

Colin Powell: Trump Should ‘Just Do What Nixon Did And Step Down’ | TODAY, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-senoBaqyE, 7 min. 15 secs, published by TODAY on 8th Jan. 2021

Federal authorities ramp up efforts to arrest Capitol rioters, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9zHdb3Lz3c, 2 min. 58 secs., published by ABC News on 8th Jan. 2021

More arrests made after riots at the US Capitol, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRsf-MYO8DA, 4 min. 18 secs., published by CNN on 9th Jan. 2021

Nationwide manhunt underway for those involved in Capitol breach, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ7SMgRR_Z8, 3 min. 22 secs., published by ABC News on 9th Jan. 2021

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Normally I would not post articles focused on an individual protestor/rioter (don't know if this guy contributed to violence in US Capitol riot). But I have read up enough on the horrors of the Nazis and even blogged on it, to know how evil the Nazi death camps like the one at Auschwitz were.

Here are two of my related posts:

The terrifying extreme nationalism and fanaticism of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, http://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-terrifying-extreme-nationalism-and.html, 24th Jan. 2017

The horrors that Nazi Germans inflicted on Polish people in occupied Poland during 1939 to 1945, https://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-horrors-that-nazi-germans-inflicted.html, 23rd Feb. 2019.

Given this background, I simply could not stay silent on this protestor/rioter in US Capitol wearing a T-Shirt supportive of that horrible Auschwitz Nazi death camp.

Two or three days ago, I had posted this comment on a non-public Facebook post which showed the same/similar pic as shown in the CNN article below: "What a tragedy! It is USA under Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency that played the vital role in defeating the horrific Nazis and holding the Nuremberg trials to bring the genocidal Nazi war criminals to justice (genocide against Jews, Roma etc.) It is so horrible and saddening to see a guy wearing this T-Shirt inside the US Capitol."

Now this CNN article reports that the man has been identified: Man in 'Camp Auschwitz' sweatshirt during Capitol riot identified, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/10/politics/man-camp-auschwitz-sweatshirt-capitol-riot-identified/index.html, 10th Jan. 2021.

Any people caught up in promoting Nazi death camps like Auschwitz are getting involved in an ideology that is dangerous to humanity in general, and must be closely watched to prevent recurrence of the Nazi evil that had not only gripped Germany, but also conquered and ruled most of continental Europe for a few years before they were defeated in World War II.

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https://twitter.com/BillWeirCNN/status/1348395383916027906 - This video clip published by CNN shows that even though, fortunately, no guns were used by the rioters in this video, the fighting was vicious between the rioters who stormed US Capitol and the Capitol police who were trying to prevent them from entering/breaching the Capitol building. 

The Capitol police were doing their job of using force (without guns) to prevent unlawful entry of the rioters into the Capitol! They have done a heroic job in trying to hold back this large mob of rioters who vastly outnumbered them. Note that eventually the rioters breached the Capitol though I do not know whether this particular entry point was breached.

What is clear from this video clip and other video clips is that this group which had many people holding up Trump banners/signs, was not engaged in exercising a right for peaceful protest. They were rioters who fought with uniformed police officers to unlawfully enter the US Capitol, and terrorized those members of US Congress and their staff who were supporting formalizing election of Joe Biden as the next president of USA.

I saw a CBS 60 minutes interview video clip of Speaker Nancy Pelosi covering this horrific mob invasion of US Capitol. In it, Speaker Pelosi shows the CBS host, Lesley Stahl, the damage done by the rioters as they entered her suite of offices. They broke down one door and were trying to break down another door (unsuccessfully it seems) behind which, Stahl says, "Pelosi's young staff cowered, terrorized. The staff went under the table, barricaded the door, turned out the lights and was silent in the dark, under the table for two and a half hours. During which time they listened to the invaders banging on that door .." The video shows Pelosi and Stahl in the room with the table. I think this seems to be a truthful account of what happened and so I am sharing this.

The video interview covers other topics which I felt are more political and so I am not sharing the video link here.

It is clear now that the mob invasion of the US Capitol terrorized many members of US Congress and their staff who were in support of completing the formalities and declaring Senator Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris the winners of the presidential and vice-presidential election.

Knowing what happened helps in realizing how dangerous an event it was to US democracy. Let us hope and pray that elected US politicians from both major political parties in USA as well as other independents or from any small political parties, will come together to ensure that such mob storming into US Capitol and rioting within, with an intention to intimidate elected US politicians and get them to do what the mob wants, will not happen again. at least in the foreseeable future.

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6 min. 37 secs. video that gives a brief view of the US Capitol riot with a timeline: US Capitol riots: Tracking the insurrection, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfwbhC2Un2Y , published by ABC News on 10th Jan. 2021.

Please note that I have a PUBLICLY (POLITICALLY) NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about USA politics. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me having voted in USA elections. I am a well-wisher of the people of the USA. I should also say that I am a grateful beneficiary, a lover and an open supporter of democracy in India, and in other democratic countries of the world in general, including USA.