Supporters of US President Donald Trump broke through the police cordon on Capitol Hill in Washington on the night of January 7 and entered the Congress building. Thus, they prevented lawmakers from approving the victory of Democrat Joseph Biden in the presidential election. The demonstrators’ attack on the Capitol was preceded by a rally at which Trump spoke. He again refused to admit defeat and claimed election fraud. Footage of Trump supporters breaking windows, clashing with police and scattering through the halls of the building quickly circled the globe, confusing Washington, the country, and the whole world.
What happened on January 6 in Washington caused disagreement in the sports ranks of the United States. The captain of the country’s women’s national football team, Olympic champion Megan Rapinoe, who has repeatedly obstructed Trump for his political decisions as president, compared the seizure of the Capitol to a terrorist act (Mogelson, 2021). Numerous players of the top American leagues criticized the behavior of Donald Trump’s supporters on the day of the Congress meeting and called for the current head of state to be sent to court.
According to the public, Trump was obliged to call the National Guard. However, the armed forces were not necessary to complement such a large police force, on par with Atlanta or Denver. Thus, they were not connected with the police of the entire city since they had only one simple job. When the Black Leaves Matter rioters, incited by Democrats and the media, besieged the White House, officers from the special services unit were injured and mentally and physically attacked. President Trump and his family were sent to a bunker. 11 employees of the service were hospitalized due to riots staged by the BLM, which, as Democrats falsely claimed, were peaceful.
Throughout the Capitol riot, Brian Sitnik, a veteran and Trump supporter, was hit, developed a blood clot, and died. During the BLM movement, no one died, yet the use of batons and bricks illustrates the violent behavior present during the civil unrest. While protestors were expressing their disagreement with police brutality, rioters were damaging private property and stealing from businesses (VICE, 2020). A member of the House of Representatives, Grijalva, demanded that the fence of the White House is demolished and that the head of the park police arrives to testify. The Washington Post attacked a Secret Service officer for using a mace against a BLM rebel who attacked him.
However, the tactical question is why the Capitol rioters got into Congress, and the BLM rioters never got into the White House. When Capitol Hill was under siege, the congressional leadership did not react to it. Instead of taking control of the situation, the members of the Chamber panicked, quarreled, and allowed their private police to deal with the situation while they were hiding (Phelps et al., 2021). The stark contrast between President Trump and Attorney General Barr in Lafayette Square and members of Congress awaiting protection from their police is not only ideological.
In conclusion, both examples of civil unrest are certainly portrayals of civil unrest despite the different causes that impacted the protests. Both series of riots targeted the government center, the White House for the BLM, and Capitol Hill for the alt-right. Civil unrest can and is often bad for democracy when physical violence, property damage, and other criminal behavior are the result of escalation. Protests are democratic because the general public can freely express on opinion, while violence is against democracy since it is an authoritarian technique that does not correlate with the principles of individual freedom.
References
Mogelson, L. (2021). Among the insurrectionists. The New Yorker.
Phelps, M. S., Ward, A., & Frazier, D. (2021). From Police Reform to Police Abolition? How Minneapolis Activists Fought to Make Black Lives Matter.Mobilization: An International Quarterly, 26(4), 421-441. Web.
VICE (2020). Behind the Scenes at the Minneapolis Protests.YouTube. Web.