On Wednesday 6 January, hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building to protest the election results. In the incident, the rioters attacked journalists and destroyed equipment worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Multiple journalists shared photos and videos of the attack on Twitter. NBC DC reporter Shomari Stone writes that the rioters shouted “the media is the enemy of the people,” which is something Trump would often say. “They destroy equipment and chased out reporters. I’ve never seen anything like this in my 20 year career,” Shomari writes.
According to PetaPixel, the destroyed gear belongs to Associated Press journalists. They were protected by barricades along with camera and lighting gear. However, the rioters breached the barricades and smashed the gear, forcing the journalists to flee. One of the Trump supporters smashed the gear with a flag pole, others trampled on it or smashed it against the ground.
https://twitter.com/WilliamTurton/status/1346942080220864513 Replying to William Turton’s tweet, Peter Chan wrote: “I work in video production, these are cameramen, sound and crew, we are regular people making a living. These equipment cost thousands of dollars that’s destroyed and some of us are freelance and use our own equipment. We are not ‘the media’, we are working people.”
The US Capitol riots have been called “the worst security breach in U.S. history.” They have caused massive damage and caused five deaths so far. From Thursday until the time of writing this, 82 people have been arrested. [via PetaPixel]
