Sparse protest of Jan. 6 arrests draws massive police response
WASHINGTON — Fewer than 100 right-wing demonstrators, sharply outnumbered by an overwhelming police presence and even by reporters, gathered at the foot of the Capitol on Saturday to denounce what they called the mistreatment of “political prisoners” who had stormed the building Jan. 6.
The peaceful gathering was the first significant right-wing protest since the Jan. 6 riot, and though even the organizers lamented the sparse turnout, the scene showed how the Capitol assault continues to reverberate eight months later.
Where only movable metal barriers stood between a mob and the Capitol on Jan. 6, layers of newly erected fence and dump trucks lined end to end guarded the building. Mounted police, absent eight months ago, now stood at the ready. Riot shields were stacked at Capitol entrances, and law enforcement from the capital region, including the Virginia State Police and the police departments for Fairfax County in Virginia and Prince George’s County in Maryland, arrived with armored cars. One hundred National Guard troops from the District of Columbia were also on alert.
The few scuffles on the outskirts of the rally were quickly squelched. The Capitol Police said on Twitter that they had arrested a few people at the event, including a man who had a gun and was charged with unlawful activities.
Rally organizers blamed the poor attendance on the show of force.
“Shame on the people and the system who put fear in the hearts of American citizens not to come out,” Cara Castronuova, a founder of Citizens Against Political Persecution and a self-described celebrity fitness professional, told the crowd.
There had been early indications that the event would be a shadow of the Jan. 6 protest, which was well organized by a variety of groups, featured an array of far-right personalities and included an appearance by President Donald Trump. This time, one of the groups behind the Jan. 6 event, the Proud Boys, had warned people away, and neither Trump nor any sitting members of Congress chose to attend.
The event Saturday was used as a platform for men who hope to be the next generation of Republican politicians. They included Joe Kent, a former member of the Special Forces who is challenging Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., in part because she voted to impeach Trump. Another speaker, Mike Collins, is a small-business owner in Georgia seeking to replace Rep. Jody Hice, a pro-Trump politician who is forgoing re-election to challenge Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state who refused Trump’s entreaties to tamper with the state’s vote count.
“We have political prisoners here,” Collins said. “The facts are clear: We’ve got nonviolent misdemeanor offenders that are currently being held with no bond, no access to lawyers, and sometimes in solitary confinement.”
Kent took up the same theme: “It’s banana republic stuff when political prisoners are arrested and denied due process,” he told the crowd, comparing the treatment of Jan. 6 rioters to what he had seen the U.S. military do in Iraq. He added, “This is a slippery slope and we are on it right now.”
The narrative spun from the podium was largely untrue or exaggerated. About 15 percent of those arrested so far in connection with the Jan. 6 riot have been denied bail and remain in pretrial custody — much lower than the overall federal pretrial detention rate of 75 percent. Moreover, all of those being detained on charges related to Jan. 6 are facing serious charges like assault or obstruction of Congress; none have been accused of only misdemeanors.
Far from jailing everyone, in fact, judges have granted bail to numerous defendants accused of violent attacks on the police or of belonging to extremist groups like the Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers militia.
The rally was organized by Matt Braynard, a former Trump campaign operative, and his organization, Look Ahead America. Braynard opened the event joking that he hoped “everyone got their wrists measured” for handcuffs, even as he asked the crowd to be respectful of the police.
Bob Lyons, 70, a former Marine, came to the rally from Buffalo, N.Y. He said he was not disappointed by the turnout: “If one person showed up, it would mean that one person cared.”
“But if you look at this crowd,” he continued, motioning toward a scene dominated by reporters, not protesters, “there’s a lot of people that care.”
Braynard and other organizers planned to hold about 20 additional events in state Capitols or other cities next Saturday.