The Mercury News Weekend

Digital detectives:

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Internet sleuths help track down rioters.

WASHINGTON >> Some of the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol were fired from their jobs on Thursday after internet sleuths publicized their identities.

The District of Columbia police department released photos of people in Wednesday’s melee and potential charges against them. Some 68 people were arrested after angry protesters stormed the building, breaking windows, damaging fixtures and stealing furnishing­s.

The FBI also asked the public to help it identify rioters, a call that drew ribbing on social media in light of the prolific coverage of the event.

Some individual­s who had previously been photograph­ed at Trump rallies and supporters of the Q Anon conspiracy-theory movement were quickly identified. Online detectives focused their efforts on others.

“Let’s name and shame them!” read one Twitter thread devoted to outing participan­ts.

One of the people shown in the D.C. police photos wore his work identifica­tion badge inside the Capitol and was identified and fired by his employer, Navistar Direct Marketing of Frederick, Maryland.

“While we support all employees’ right to peaceful, lawful exercise of free speech, any employee demonstrat­ing dangerous conduct that endangers the health and safety of others will no longer have an employment opportunit­y with Navistar Direct Marketing,” the company said in a statement, without naming the man.

Libby Andrews, a real estate agent from Chicago, was fired by @properties and removed from its website, even though she had done nothing wrong and had not entered the Capitol, she said in an interview.

“I’m a 56-year- old woman, petite. I was not there causing trouble. I was there to support my president,” said Andrews.

Andrews said she had climbed the steps of the Capitol without encounteri­ng security, posted selfies from the scene on Instagram, sang the national anthem and then moved on.

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