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It was to be a grand, conciliatory ceremony.
Almost two years after the violent storming of the US Capitol in Washington, several people have been honored for their particularly heroic behavior that day.
This also included Brian Sicknick – his honor was posthumous.
Because the police officer was attacked on the day of the storm and died the following day as a result of two strokes.
For him, his parents Charles and Gladys Sicknick and his brother Ken Sicknick were there - and they sent a clear signal.
They accepted congratulations from House and Senate Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.
However, the family passed their Republican counterparts Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell as one.
The background: The family - like many other people in the country - is dissatisfied with the attitude of the Republicans to the events of January 6, 2021, and to Donald Trump.
He had stirred up the mob before the attack.
An investigation is underway into Trump's responsibility for the storming of the Capitol.
The US broadcaster CNN quoted Gladys Sicknick as saying about the Republicans: “You are so double-dealing.
I've just had enough of it.
They stand there and talk about how wonderful the Capitol Police are.
And then they go to Mar-a-Lago and kiss Trump's ring.”
McCarthy had actually traveled to Trump in Florida shortly after the Capitol storm.
McConnell had criticized Trump immediately after January 6th.
In the meantime, however, he has approached Trump again, probably also because of his candidacy for the presidential election in two years.
On the sidelines of the tribute, he condemned what happened.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell:
"As a deranged mob tried to get between Congress and our constitutional duty, Capitol Police fought to defend our institution and system of self-government."
On January 6, 2021, an angry mob stormed the Capitol while the official confirmation of Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election was being played there.
The attackers did not want to accept Trump's defeat.
MPs feared for their lives.
In addition to Sicknick, four Trump supporters also died.
Four other police officers later took their own lives.
More than a hundred police officers were injured.
At the ceremony, police officers remembered the day and told how the experience still shapes them today.
Thomas Manger, Chief of Capitol Police:
"For us it was a day of chaos, courage, tragic loss and determination."
Robert. J. Contee, Washington, DC Police Commissioner:
“Many of us today still carry the physical, mental and emotional scars after mobs of thousands launched a violent onslaught trying to stop the counting of electoral college votes .
The sound of metal bars and other objects banging against the bodies, helmets and shields still lingers loudly.
The air still feels like it's full of pepper spray and other chemicals that make it difficult for our officers to breathe."
So it was an emotional day, which will be remembered above all by the gesture of the Sicknicks.
