A police officer who was at work in the congress building when it was stormed by angry Trump supporters, he says feared for his life.
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Aquilino Gonell spoke about the situation on Tuesday during the start of the congressional investigation of the storm. He compared the attack to a siege in the Middle Ages and described how hard the police worked to keep the crowd away.
– So that’s how I’m going to die, while defending the entrance, Gonell said he was thinking then.
He said he felt he could not breathe when the crowd pushed to enter the building.
Michael Fanone, a police officer sent to the scene during the riots, said he was apprehended and beaten by rebels, who also called him a traitor.
EXPLAINED: Aquilino Gonell was at work when Congress stormed in January. He cried when he explained himself on Thursday. Foto: CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA
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Beat his hand on the table
He sent a clear message in the direction of the Republican politicians who have boycotted the investigation and withdrew from the hearing.
“I felt like I was going to hell and back to protect them and the people in this room,” Fanone said.
At one point he slapped his hand on the table.
– Too many people tell me that hell does not exist or that hell was not really that bad. The indifference shown to my colleagues is shameful, the policeman said.
A total of five people lost their lives when thousands of Trump supporters stormed the congress building in the US capital Washington on January 6.
1 of 3Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP
Racist incitement
Another police officer, African-American Harry Dunn, said in the hearing that he was subjected to racist incitement during the riots.
He says that he was most concerned with surviving just when it happened, but that it has hurt him afterwards.
– It was so discouraging and disappointing that we live in a country where people attack you because of your skin color. Just to hurt you. Such words are weapons, he says.
So far, 535 people involved in the riots have been arrested. So far, few of these have been convicted, reports the BBC.
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