Everyone stands as losers at the end of this largely peaceful day of demonstration in the US capital: Trump supporters, the police, the media. Or is it not?
Matt Braynard, a former employee of the Trump campaign, had called for a protest on Saturday in front of the Parliament building in Washington. Several hundred sympathizers wanted to bring his organization “Look Ahead America” in front of the Capitol to protest against the alleged illegal treatment of the demonstrators on January 6th. Supporters of Trump had stormed the parliament building at the time to prevent Joe Biden’s confirmation in the presidency. Hundreds of people were injured and four died.
The nervousness was correspondingly great this time. Measured against that, the rally turned out to be ridiculously small. The police counted a maximum of 450 people on the protest area, only a minority belonged to the demonstrators. There were so many reporters, cameramen, photographers and presenters between them that they stood in line in front of the few protesters.
The Trump supporters – including some older couples and even families – confronted hundreds of police officers beyond a double barriers, some in full protective gear, others on bicycles, helicopters and drones circling in the sky, and a column of evacuation vehicles from the city secured them Street, while army vehicles and the National Guard stood ready in the background. After being taken by surprise on January 6, the Capitol Police Department did not want to leave anything to chance this time around.
Are the right being touched harder than the left?
The disproportion between security forces, media people and onlookers on the one hand and demonstrators on the other was so blatant that Trump’s supporters welcomed the pictures as a gift: They had come to accuse the security apparatus and the allegedly left-ideologically disguised media. The massive police presence is evidence that free speech is being restricted, said Scott Beard from nearby Maryland. The media helped with misinformation, said the 50-year-old with a hat and backpack from the army. He did not accept the objection that the warning of possible acts of violence had come from the Ministry of Homeland Security.
Paula Brassfield from Virginia also railed against the media. The 74-year-old ignored her friends’ advice not to travel to Washington: “It’s important to protest.” Videos from her church would have shaken her: “People no longer have traditional family values, they are not having children and instead only have dogs.” Now demonstrate them so that the USA does not fall into communism. The process is in full swing: Right-wing demonstrators are being treated much harder by the judiciary than left-wing activists. This claim formed the leitmotif of the protest on Saturday, although facts like that contradict it Washington Post has recalculated.
More than 600 people were charged after January 6, 78 of whom are still in prison, the majority of whom are charged with violence against police officers. The incarceration rate is still 13 percent; Usually it is significantly higher for comparable offenses at 75 percent. The conditions of detention are harsh; But while it is part of everyday life for Afro-Americans and Latinos to feel the full severity of the law, this is the exception for groups of predominantly white people.
Four people stopped
That is why the Black Lives Matter activist Nadine Seiler had no sympathy for the demonstrators, whom she opposed on Saturday with a poster and megaphone. She too found the police overcompensated for her January 6 failure this time. But that is understandable: “These people wanted to hang the Vice President,” shouted the 55-year-old. Security experts also claimed that the police did not overreact, but rather, with good preparation, prevented violent demonstrators from arriving. Unlike on January 6, this time leaders of right-wing groups such as the “Proud Boys” distanced themselves from the event, and Donald Trump also spoke of a “trap”.
In the end, the police only stopped four people in front of the Capitol, revealing a handgun and knife. Several times the law enforcement officers had to stand between demonstrators and counter-demonstrators. Only the organizer of the demonstration drew an unreservedly positive balance: Matt Braynard had always drawn attention to previous events in vain. But this time he made it into all national and many international media. Speaking to MSNBC, he said, “It’s not about the attendance, it’s about getting my message across.” This time he was given the opportunity to do so.