Capitol Security in the Eye of the Hurricane

They surround the surroundings of the Capitol after the assault, Washington.Julio Cortez / AP

The ease with which hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol has put Washington's police forces under scrutiny.

Capitol security officials have acknowledged that they were not prepared to contain a mob, but critical voices of what happened reproach them that the

Save America

demonstration

had been scheduled for weeks and the tense political climate was reason enough to take strong preventive measures.

The violent episode has also opened a racial debate.

The police containment response seen on Wednesday contrasted with images from last summer, when National Guard troops took to the streets of the US capital during protests against police abuses against African Americans.

The president-elect himself, Joe Biden, intervened in the debate by affirming yesterday that if the protesters of the Black Lives Matter movement had been the assailants, they would have been treated very differently from the crowd of "thugs" who stormed the Capitol.

"That is unacceptable," he said.

Among the thousands of supporters who came to Washington to “fight” for the outgoing president, Donald Trump, some wore T-shirts that read: “Civil War.

January 6, 2021 ".

Since January 1, nearly 1,500 Twitter posts related to the event made reference to the violence and there were some who warned that he would carry weapons.

Trump addressed the protesters hours before the assault, stirred up the unfounded specter of electoral fraud, called them “true patriots” and urged them not to surrender.

Finally, he told them to march to the Capitol: "You have to show strength and be strong."

But the police say they were not prepared.

The Capitol has its own police force of 2,000 officers, but only a portion was on duty, and in ordinary uniform, not riot gear.

They were quickly overwhelmed by the hundreds of people who broke down the fragile security fence.

They even received blows when getting in their way.

Crossing that barrier, the protesters climbed to reach the windows and break the glass.

A 'selfie' with a shaker

Security sources quoted by

The New York Times

argued that Capitol agents were prepared to line up a demonstration, not to repel an attack.

Inside the building, the police tried to block the passage to the rooms by placing furniture in the doors and firing tear gas.

Some agents drew their weapons to protect the plenary hall.

A woman was shot dead by the police and three other protesters died after being taken to hospital.

The circumstances of the deaths are being investigated.

In some images on social networks, the agents are seen backing down when the agitators advance, helping some to avoid hurting themselves and another even taking a self-portrait with one of the extremists.

Several lawyers and civil rights activists stressed that if the protesters had been African-American, the action would have been different.

The mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, requested the help of National Guard troops.

Almost an hour later, when the gravity of the situation was evident, the entire Washington National Guard was activated.

The Defense Department had approved before the demonstration to deploy 340 members, but only in support and without weapons.

At night, the federal security agencies mobilized hundreds of officers to support the police.

Only 52 detainees

The irruption into the temple of democracy in the United States resulted in a total of 52 detainees, 26 of them for breaking the curfew decreed by the Washington City Council starting at 6:00 p.m. (local time) on Wednesday.

The figure is similar to the number of detainees who left the climate change protests led by actress Jane Fonda in the Senate last year.

The activist and her companions did not beat the police officers, nor did they damage the street furniture, nor did they walk around with the Confederate flag, a symbol of the southern slave states.

They only sat in the street with their banners to mobilize legislators to pass an agenda against climate change.

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