Protesters in US Capital Building

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We will have to agree to disagree.

What exactly do you disagree with? That the BLM/police brutality protests were not violent attacks, that the police invoked riots or that a cop in my city was fired because he admitted to the public that they were trying to start a riot?
I mean you don't live here so to quote Judas Priest 'You don't know what it's like' I think that was a lyric in one of their songs anyways.

What exactly do you disagree with? That the BLM/police brutality protests were not violent attacks, that the police invoked riots or that a cop in my city was fired because he admitted to the public that they were trying to start a riot?
I mean you don't live here so to quote Judas Priest 'You don't know what it's like' I think that was a lyric in one of their songs anyways.

I am not looking for an argument.

I am not looking for an argument.

Justice Department court filing has revealed that at least 134 police officers were assaulted during the Capitol riots on January 6.

The document says that 81 officers from the Capitol Police force and 58 from the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department sustained injuries when crowds of Donald Trump supporters breached the building while lawmakers were preparing to count electoral college votes, cementing Joe Biden's election victory.

Disturbing footage and photos have shown officers being beaten, crushed by crowds and dragged down steps as the mob overwhelmed law enforcement.

As a result of a lack of law enforcement preparation, police officers were overwhelmed and outnumbered as thousands of rioters swarmed the Capitol building.

Speaking to Newsweek, former Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection Brian Harrell said federal law enforcement was well aware that a sizable and volatile crowd was set to descend on the capital Wednesday, yet did not take the necessary precautions.

"We all knew that tens of thousands of extremists would converge on DC Wednesday, so there's no excuse for the resourcing failure," Harrell said. "Law enforcement was ill-prepared for an event the entire country knew was coming, and one that POTUS has been signaling for weeks."

Disturbing footage showing the Capitol Hill mob dragging a police officer down a set of steps and beating him with an American flag has gone viral.

In several separate videos circulating on social media, rioters can be seen attacking officers, who were trying to block an archway that leads into the building. The crowd used flagpoles and hockey sticks in their attack on the officers and threw missiles into the archway.

In the clips—some of which have been watched more than two million times—one officer covers his head with his hands on the ground as members of the mob attack him.

Another officer is then dragged out face-down by his foot. He is then pulled down the steps as rioters shout and hit him with the poles of American and Trump flags.

The officer eventually manages to stand but rioters continue to push him and hit at his helmet. One man can even be seen grabbing hold of the officer although it is unclear whether he is trying to help him or restrain him.

A man then jumps up out of the crowd and punches him in the face, hitting his visor and the officer ends up falling down amid the packed crowd. During the mayhem, the crowd starts chanting "U.S.A., U.S.A."

Although there is speculation on the identity of the officer on social media, it has not been confirmed. Newsweek has contacted Capitol Hill Police and Washington, D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department.

Capitol Hill Police said that one of its officers, Brian Sicknick, 42, died of injuries sustained during the siege. Sicknick was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher during a struggle, two law enforcement officials told AP.

The agency reported that a video had been circulating YouTube which showed a protester hurling a fire extinguisher at an officer although it is not clear if this was Sicknick.

Sicknick, who joined the Capitol police in 2008 and most recently served in the department's first responder unit, died at about 9:30 p.m. on January 7 "due to injuries sustained while on duty," according to a police statement.

"Officer Sicknick was responding to the riots on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol and was injured while physically engaging with protesters. He returned to his division office and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Another viral video appeared to show police allowing crowds to breach barricades, causing outrage on social media. But the person who shot the clip—Marcus DiPaola, a freelance journalist working at TikTok—told Newsweek officers only backed away after being threatened while being vastly outnumbered.

Two pipe bombs left at the offices of the Republican and Democratic national committees, discovered just before thousands of pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, were actually placed the night before, federal officials said Friday.

The FBI said the investigation had revealed new information, including that the explosive devices were placed outside the two buildings between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 5, the night before the riot. The devices were not located by law enforcement until the next day.

It is not clear whether that means the pipe bombs were unrelated to the next day’s riot or were part of the riot planning. Both buildings are within a few blocks of the Capitol.

The incident has been particularly concerning for law enforcement as officials step up security preparations ahead of the Senate’s impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. For weeks, investigators have been worried about the potential for attacks on soft targets in the nation’s capital.

U.S. Capitol Police and agents from the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were called to the Republican National Committee’s office around 12:45 p.m. on Jan. 6. About 30 minutes later, as the agents and bomb technicians were still investigating at the RNC, another call came in for a second, similar explosive device found at the Democratic National Committee headquarters nearby.

he FBI released additional photos of the explosive devices on Friday, including a photograph that showed one of the devices placed underneath a bush. Officials have also increased the reward in the case to $100,000.

Steven D’Antuono, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s office in Washington, said earlier this week that locating the person who planted the pipe bombs was a top priority for federal agents, though officials have only released grainy surveillance camera images of a potential suspect.

On Friday, the FBI said the person wore a gray hooded sweatshirt, a face mask and Nike Air Max Speed Turf sneakers in yellow, black and gray, and had been carrying a backpack.

Federal prosecutors investigating the violent riot at the Capitol this month announced their first conspiracy charges against the Proud Boys on Friday night, accusing two members of the far-right nationalist group of working together to obstruct and interfere with law enforcement officers protecting Congress during the final certification of the presidential election.

In a brief news release, the Justice Department said that an indictment had been filed against two Proud Boys, Dominic Pezzola, of Rochester, N.Y., and William Pepe, of Beacon, N.Y. But by late Friday night, the charging papers had not yet appeared in the Washington federal court database. Both Mr. Pezzola, a former boxer and Marine, and Mr. Pepe, an employee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, already had been facing lesser charges connected to the Capitol attack.

While more than 170 people have been charged in the deadly assault on the Capitol, most have been accused of relatively minor crimes such as disorderly conduct and unlawful entry. The only other serious conspiracy charges in the inquiry have been brought against three members of the militia group the Oath Keepers, who are accused of preparing for the Jan. 6 rally in Washington as early as one week after the election.

Investigators have made a priority of exploring whether the attack was planned in advance. Earlier this week, Michael Sherwin, the U.S. attorney in Washington, said that prosecutors were focused on bringing “more complicated conspiracy cases related to possible coordination among militia groups” and “individuals from different states that had a plan to travel” to Washington before Jan. 6.

When F.B.I. agents searched Mr. Pezzola’s home near Rochester after the riot, prosecutors said, they found a thumb drive with several PDF files, some suggesting he had been studying bomb-making techniques. The computer files, court papers said, had titles like “Advanced Improvised Explosives,” “Explosive Dusts” and “Ragnar’s Big Book of Homemade Weapons.”

At least four other members of the Proud Boys have been charged so far in connection with the Capitol attack, including a top-ranking leader of the group, Joseph Biggs. Mr. Biggs, a U.S. Army veteran, stands accused of leading a group of about 100 Proud Boys on an angry march toward and into the Capitol.