Security officials are on edge at the Capitol. US police evacuated the headquarters of Congress in Washington on Wednesday after deeming a harmless plane taking part in a sporting event a threat. This mess has especially provoked the irritation of the powerful leader of the Democrats in Congress, Nancy Pelosi.
“Evacuate the United States Capitol”: the worrying alert reporting a potential air threat, issued at around 6:30 p.m., was lifted less than twenty minutes later.
An embarrassing communication problem
The police, who justified the evacuation by a “precautionary concern”, promised “more information to come”. More than two hours after the initial warning, they had still not provided an official reason. But a simple and embarrassing communication problem seems to be the cause of the false alarm.
Indeed, the reported threat was actually just US Army paratroopers, dropped from a plane to take part in a pre-game show at the baseball stadium, located less than 2 kilometers from the building. “The fact that the US Aviation Authority apparently failed to notify Capitol Police of the planned National Stadium overflight is outrageous and inexcusable,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. scathing statement.
The bad memory of January 6, 2021
“The unnecessary panic caused by this apparent negligence has been particularly damaging to elected officials, staff and institutional employees, still scarred by the trauma of the attack on their workplace on January 6,” she continued, making reference to the storming of the Capitol in early 2021 by supporters of Donald Trump.
Although brief, the alert was immediately shared by the American media, in a country still deeply marked by the memory of the air attacks of September 11, 2001. The number of people present on Wednesday in the precincts of the Capitol was however probably limited, the Senate and the House of Representatives not being in session.
“We have just had a very stressful quarter of an hour, but we are happy that everyone is safe and sound,” tweeted elected official Teresa Leger Fernandez. According to CNN journalist Ryan Nobles, who says he was among those evacuated, “for a good 15 minutes, it was pretty crazy.” “Alarms were loud and intense, and Capitol Police were working hard to get everyone out,” he tweeted. Finally, and fortunately, these evacuations will not have been of much use.