Biden: "Don't let January 6th be rewritten and erased"

AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS

There was a certain irony during the past extremely cold weekend in Washington. Two SUVs decorated with Trump flags were parked two blocks west of the Capitol. A solidarity parade was being held there for those who participated in the 2021 Capitol storming. But only four people showed up.

"People don't know where we are because of the fence," complains one of the organizers, Jamie Crow from Pennsylvania. The place where the parade was supposed to take place is fenced off - a security measure that is supposed to prevent a repeat of the events that Jamie still defends today.

"The Capitol is the house of the people, everyone can express their opinion there," says the 60-year-old. And January 6, 2021, was certainly not a riot, he believes, even though more than 140 police officers were injured and five people died.

Biden: "Our democracy has endured"

Outgoing US President Joe Biden called it one of the most difficult days in American history. "Our democracy was literally put to the test. And fortunately, our democracy has endured."

Addressing newly elected congressmen at the White House, four years after the attack on the Capitol, Biden stressed: "Now it is your duty to tell the truth and remember what happened. Do not let January 6 be rewritten or even erased."

And regarding Trump's role, Biden assessed: "I think what he did was a real threat to democracy."

Trump encouraged his supporters during a 2021 speech by claiming that his victory was taken away by massive electoral fraud. Riots broke out immediately afterwards. More than 1,500 protesters, some of whom were violent, were later convicted, some to very long prison sentences. For many Trump supporters, however, they are political prisoners.