Danbury-area residents, politicians stunned by siege of U.S. Capitol
Ridgefield native Caroline Treschitta watched TV news from her apartment in Washington on Wednesday, just a couple of miles from the U.S. Capitol, feeling a mixture of stress, fear and anger.
“It’s just really wild to see these places on TV that are so close to me and that I’ve walked through before, that I’ve protested at before or even worked before,” said Treschitta, who moved to D.C. to attend American University five years ago. “Just to see the sheer number of police and the violence and what feels like so little being done in response — it’s a lot to take in.”
Protests in Washington over election results and Congress’ move to certify Joe Biden as the next president resulted in some people storming the Capitol building, even entering the Senate chamber and offices of elected officials. Members of Congress were forced to hide as the group attempted to prevent action from being taken on the future of the presidency.
“This is unreal,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, who represents the state’s 5th District, retweeting a video of protesters attempting to force their way past Capitol police. “The scene outside the [Capitol] as the Electoral College votes are being certified. [Building] evacuations, suspicious packages, streets blocked
this is not partisan — it is disgraceful.”
Danny Hayes, the director of Veterans Affairs for Danbury, said he was invited by people he knows to attend the protests in Washington, but declined.
“They have been talking about this for weeks, so I am not in shock they went there, but I am very disappointed (at what happened),” he said. “Guys I know invited me to this and I said, ‘Are you nuts? That will get out of hand.’ And it did.”
“This is not the way to make your point,” he added.
Treschitta, who protested in support of the Black Lives Matter movement over the summer, noted a “double standard” between how police treated Black and brown protesters then and those who stormed the Capitol.
“It’s angering to see so many of my friends get hurt over the summer,” said Treschitta, who said she plans to stay at her apartment with her roommate. “It feels like we knew this was going to be a violent protest and not enough precautions were taken.”
Those comments were echoed by Glenda Armstrong, the president of the NAACP Danbury chapter.
“People who are mainly non-minorities are storming the Capitol and it’s a different standard,” she said Wednesday afternoon, calling the behavior “anti-American and adding that people need to denounce the actions.
Armstrong pointed to the rhetoric and “encouragement” from President Donald Trump as a cause for the storming.
“This is not who we are as a country ... this shakes the very foundation of who we are,” she said.
Flawed security
U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, who represents the state’s 4th District, was in the House chamber while there was a standoff with protesters and police. Himes tweeted during the incident, with updates about security measures being taken, including the use of gas masks. In an interview with CNN, Himes was critical of the lack of security preventing people from gaining access to the building.
“We’ve got a lot to learn from what happened today,” he said.
State Rep. Raghib AllieBrennan, D-Bethel, spent the late afternoon contacting his friends at the U.S. Capitol, where he used to work.
“Everyone is OK,” he said around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.” They’re barricaded in offices.”
On TV news, he saw Trump supporters breaking glass and scaling the walls of the halls he used to walk down and reflected on what despots in other countries must be thinking as they watched.
“This goes beyond party,” Allie-Brennan said. “This isn’t right wing or left wing. This is anti-American.”
Allie-Brennan said he was nervous about the protests at the state Capitol on Wednesday when the legislative session opened. The fact that they stayed peaceful was a “testament to Connecticut’s character,” he said.
But he has received angry messages from people who oppose wearing masks during the pandemic. After he voted in favor of the police reform bill, someone banged on his door late at night, he said.
“I represent a district that’s split,” Allie-Brennan said. “I’ve seen the divide get bigger and bigger as we get closer to November. There’s been more tension, angry people.”
‘Can’t believe this is happening’
Eric Paradis, the chairman of the Newtown Democratic Party, said he was stunned, but not shocked, Wednesday as he watched the events unfolding.
“Part of me is saying, ‘I can’t believe this is happening’ and the other part of me is saying, ‘Trump has been saying this is what was going to happen for four years,’ ” Paradis said. “Never in my life did I think I would see insurrection in the United States.”
Andrea Gartner, chairwoman of the Democratic Town Committee in Danbury, thought of her parents, who grew up in Germany during World War II.
“I always felt something like this isn’t out of the realm of possibility, but I also didn’t think it was within the realm of possibility,” she said.
The country is at a point where history is turning, Gartner said.
“That’s the scary part, which way it turns” she said. “I still have faith in our American institutions, and I’ll stay up as late as it needs to be to see that the Electoral College votes get counted and certified and we can move on from this.”
Po Murray, chair of the nonprofit, gun-violence prevention group, Newtown Action Alliance, said Trump has “been encouraging violence in this country for many years now,” adding that the NAA has “supported efforts to stop armed intimidation.”
“It is a very sad day in our nation,” Murray said.