Capitol Riot

29 January 2021

Not even a week into 2021, on January the 6th, a mob of Far-Right extremists raided the United States Capitol in Washington DC. These rioters gathered on the 5th and 6th and claimed that the 2020 election had been "fraudulent" and "unfair", believing that former president Trump should have been re-elected as president instead of Joe Biden. The rioters breached police perimeters and raided the building, vandalizing and looting the capitol. The Capitol Police evacuated the Senate and House of Representatives chambers. 5 people died as a direct result of the conflict, and two more policemen committed suicide not long after the 6th.

The event was followed by Trump's second impeachment, making him the first president in the history of the United States to be impeached twice. This was accompanied by the suspension of Trump's Social Media accounts, as his posts and tweets are believed to have helped spread misinformation and hate that fueled the riot.

David Savage