Washington rally in support of 6 January rioters falls short of expectations | US Capitol attack

Any American passing by might have been forgiven if they thought they had stumbled upon one of the great human rights struggles of our time.

Speakers managed to mention Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and the Nazi persecution of the Jews. They told of prisoners who were held in conditions reminiscent of the Soviet gulags.

Then there was the sheer injustice of the raids. Innocent people evicted by the secret police for daring to criticize the government.

Aside from being a protest to demand the release of hundreds of people arrested for their involvement in the January 6th storming of the U.S. Capitol to prevent Congress from winning Joe Biden’s presidential election 2020 confirmed.

“Kentucky Phil,” a US Coast Guard veteran, protests during the rally in Washington DC. Photo: David Tulis / UPI / REX / Shutterstock

As the Republican Party and more ardent supporters of Donald Trump work to rewrite the narrative of the coup attempt, supporters of those arrested sought to transform it from political to human rights with the Justice for J6 rally near the Capitol on Saturday .

It was a flop in protest.

The turnout was at best half of the 700 organizers predicted, which in itself fell far short of the many thousands who stormed Congress in January. Event organizer Matt Braynard, a former Trump campaign aide, blamed government intimidation and press alarmism for the low attendance.

“For those who have emerged, I congratulate you on your courage,” he said.

This set the tone for a rally to portray those arrested as brave Americans who stand up for their democratic right to protest. No mention was made of the role Trump played on January 6 in calling on his followers to “fight like hell” to defend his claim of winning the election.

Riot gear watched the Justice for J6 rally near the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC on Saturday. Photo: Nathan Howard / AP

Approximately 650 people have been charged with the riot and nearly 60 pleaded guilty, mostly of relatively minor crimes, including obstruction of official process and illegal demonstrations in the Capitol. Some are being held without bail.

Four people died during the riot, including a woman who was shot and killed by a police officer trying to get to the floor of the house. Brian Sicknick, a Capitol police officer who was attacked by the protesters, died the next day. Other officers were beaten.

Braynard insisted that he did not have a truck with the people arrested for violence against the police.

“That’s not what this rally is about,” he said. “It’s not about the people who were violent.”

Instead, he attacked a “two tier justice system” that got liberals like Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and environmentalists to protest in the Capitol by occupying Nancy Pelosi’s office, but rounded up a few hundred people who were simply trying to take over the government get them to hear their opinion complain about the election count.

“This is about the different treatment of non-violent people,” he said.

A protester attends the Justice for J6 rally in Washington DC on Saturday. Photo: Allison Bailey / REX / Shutterstock

Braynard deplored the system’s violence against demonstrators whose “lives have been destroyed”. It is time for good men and women to scream, “Let them go.”

Spokespeople reported family members arrested by the FBI who are now “political prisoners” and “prisoners of conscience”.

A woman who identified herself as the friend of Jonathan Mellis, a man charged with crimes such as assault, said he was in solitary confinement. She read a letter in which he claimed, “This reminds me of how the Jews were treated by the Nazis.”

The rally organizers, Look Ahead America, urged those in attendance not to carry any paraphernalia in support of Trump or political groups in order to focus on the claim to care for human rights.

Braynard discovered a man who identified himself as Adam from Florida holding an American flag with the Roman numeral III in the corner. That, said Braynard, is a symbol for a right-wing extremist militia, the Three Percenters.

Adam from Florida holds a Stars and Stripes with a symbol for a far-right militia, the Three Percenters, at the # justice4J6 rally. Allegedly not knowing what it was Organizer Matt Braynard asked him to remove it: “It’s an external group and it makes the optics look bad”. pic.twitter.com/NtNlpXzJo8

– Chris McGreal (@ChrisMcGreal) September 18, 2021

“It’s an underdog group and it looks bad,” he said, telling Adam to put the flag away. “Anyone who does not agree to remove it, we must accept as an intruder.”

Adam known ignorance of the club – but rolled up the flag.

Anders Bruce, a 30-year-old Look Ahead America organizer, said he was there to seek justice for politically persecuted “prisoners of conscience”.

But who is responsible for this persecution when the persecution began under the Trump administration?

“It shows that there is a problem with the government of both parties,” he said.

Others protested the demonstrators.

Doug Hughes stood in the midst of the prisoners’ supporters with a sign: “There is no right to insurrection.”

Counter-protesters hold signs during the Justice for J6 rally in Washington DC. Photo: Jim Bourg / Reuters

Hughes, a former postman, went to jail for four months for landing a gyrocopter outside the Capitol in 2015.

“I knew there would be consequences. I am a felon, I lost my job and I have no regrets for what I did, ”he said. “Now those who broke the law on January 6th have to face the consequences.”

Was he concerned for his safety in the midst of an unwelcome crowd?

“Yes, but I feel more strongly that we have to hold on to democracy. The loser of the election should accept the result. “

It turned out that no one bothered Hughes or any of the other dissidents scattered in the crowd.

Notable for his absence was Trump. The ex-president wanted to play golf in New Jersey, but the usual Trump hats and T-shirts were also missing. The only flag with his name on it was hoisted on the edge of the rally by a Black Lives Matter protester. “Fuck Donald Trump,” they said.

An African American selling Trump hats on the sidelines of the rally didn’t make a lot of business. When asked if he felt sorry for the former president, he smiled.

“It’s money,” he said.