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Updated December 26th, 2021 at 09:47 IST

US Capitol Hill: New 3-hr video shows conflict between police, rioters from inside tunnel

In the footage, uncontrollable Trump supporters can be seen hurling objects, audio speakers, flag poles, any object that they could find at the police.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
Capitol riots
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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The US Justice Department this week released a new three-hour-long video of the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan 6 2020 for public viewing that displays the attack by the rioters on the police officers who were trampled, attacked, and beaten. Far-right MAGA mob brandished weapons, pushed, and thrashed the officers who responded with batons, pepper spray, and riot shields to restore law and order in what is being called one of the most violent confrontations between Capitol Police and the crowd.

Several American news outlets were sued for accessing this footage as it was a part of the investigation. In the footage, the uncontrollable Trump supporters can be seen hurling objects, audio speakers, flag poles, any object that they could find at the law enforcement authorities.

The House committee has been tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol and looking into every aspect of the riot, so it wouldn’t happen in the future. In the footage, unruly Trump supporters, fuelled by ex-Republican leader’s unsubstantiated claims of a stolen election and provoked to ‘Stop The Steal’ were seen brutally assaulting the police officers outside the Capitol building.

The mob smashed its way into the Capitol to halt election certification of then democrat candidate Joe Biden. As there have been unanswered questions and several varying accounts about how the attack unfolded on the Capitol, the lawmakers say that they are committed to presenting a full accounting and laying down facts exactly as the insurrection happened.

Assault, violence, depth of Jan. 6 chaos

In the three-hour video, as the rioters and the police officers clashed a member of the mob lay dead on the Capitol steps. A violent crowd climbed on top of each other, swinging fists and poles at the police as they attacked the officers, some punching and kicking at the police in the frontline. Further in the footage, rioters at the tunnel were seen hurtling objects and jabbing the flag poles at the officers who defended themselves with chemical spray and riot shields. Officers were seen smashed against the wall, crushed against the doors amid cheers from the Trump supporters as some of them also filmed the assault on their cell phone. 

 

Police with guns drawn watch as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the US Capitol. [Credit: AP]

A Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone had labelled the experience as a ‘heart attack’ as the assault on the Lower West Terrace ensued, and as can be seen in the released footage. He was dragged out of the front line and thrown into the rioting crowd and disappeared later. CNN reported that the officer later told them that he was tased in the neck, beaten with a flagpole, and at the time had heard rioters screaming "kill him with his own gun” but had a miraculous escape, somehow.

After half an hour of chaos and clashes between both sides, police were able to push the rioters back to the tunnels’ entrance where rioter and QAnon supporter Rosanne Boyland lay dead on the ground from what was later established an accidental overdose. 

[Credit: AP]

Despite attacks from all directions by the mob, at least two officers entered the dangerous crowd to help Boyland. But they were beaten with an upside-down American flag and other weapons. According to a court document accessed by CNN, one of the officers sustained an injury on his shoulder and face, while the other bled in his head and landed in the hospital. 

It is being reported as one of the most violent confrontations seen yet. The officers were seen reluctant to let a rioter enter the Capitol building as they unfurled the United States flag and chanted ‘Stop The Steal’. 

Some officers told CNN that they had no knowledge that some of the insurrectionists had managed to breach the security and enter the Capitol. The footage was recorded on the Capitol security camera as the crowd coordinated efforts to barge into the government building, whilst some impacted by the pepper spray washed their eyes with water, and officers were seen sustaining injuries in apparent scenes where their lives were in danger.

'That was not dissent, It was disorder'

At least two Capitol Police officers protecting the building during the insurrection demanded accountability. “That was not the dissent. It was a disorder,” the US President Joe Biden had earlier stated. The committee's testimony kicked off with police officers who responded to the attack, and the custodial staff who cleaned up afterward. US Capitol Police recommended disciplinary action in six cases after an internal review of officer behaviour stemming from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The department's Office of Professional Responsibility opened 38 internal investigations, identified 26 of the officers involved, of those, in 20 of the cases, no wrongdoing was found.

Among the dozens arrested and charged for Lower West Terrace tunnel violence, is Robert Morss, a trained Army Ranger who led the mob inside the tunnel and planned to start his own militia. An active-duty Marine Corps officer seen on camera scuffling with a police officer was also charged. Another arrest made involves Federico Klein, an ex-Trump-employed State Department official. One other Patrick McCaughey was detained as he crushed Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges into a door. Jeffrey Sabol, Jack Whitton, and Ronald McAbee were arrested for dragging the police officers into the rioting crowd.

"I fed him to the people," American rioter Whitton boasted with his pals later. Another rioter Devlyn Thompson was seen throwing speakers at police officers and has been sentenced to four years in prison. Another rioter, Robert Palmer used a fire extinguisher, a wooden plank, and a pole to attack the officers on duty and has been sentenced to five years. Both have pleaded guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon, as per CNN that reviewed the court document. This is the longest video from the riot released by the department yet for the public. 

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Published December 26th, 2021 at 09:47 IST

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