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Rally of Capitol riot supporters ends up as peaceful small gathering

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The rally in support of jailed Capitol rioters in Washington D.C. on Saturday ended up being a small gathering with little incident.

Police and journalists outnumbered those who attended the rally, but rally organizers said they accomplished their goal in raising awareness of who they call “political prisoners” – people still in jail for their participation in the January 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol building.

Temporary fencing had been set up around the Capitol and local police and the members of National Guard were on standby.

But supporters of those charged in connection with the January 6 insurrection maintain that it was the work of left-wing groups.

“There has been hypocrisy, there has not been fair and equal justice as they have, whether it’s Antifa and the BLM (Black Lives Matter) and the riots and people that stepped into the Capitol and all kinds of places,” said Lindy Ann Hopley, Justice for J6 rally supporter.

The truth is most of the more than 600 who were charged after the violence here on January 6 have been released either awaiting trial over minor offenses or freed. A few dozen are still in jail awaiting trial for violent offenses – but none have been charged with treason and politicians who encouraged them, including former President Trump, have faced no consequences so far.

This demonstration was of course a big test for Capitol Hill police after being caught unprepared on Jan. 6, this time they took no chances, barriers and security fencing, hundreds of law enforcement are all here and National Guard on standby but in the end they were not needed.
On January 6, supporters of former President Donald Trump, after a rally he had held, descended on the Capitol in a protest, against the backdrop of a vicious political battle in which Trump accused then-President-elect Joe Biden of stealing the election.

The protest, later deemed an insurrection, became violent and left five dead, including a Capitol Police officer.

Democrats have denounced the Capitol riot as an attack on democracy, while Republicans have almost uniformly downplayed its implications, especially Trump’s alleged role of inciting it, and dismissed the committee as a political sideshow created merely to discredit Trump’s legacy.

The former president was impeached for inciting the insurrection earlier this year.

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