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Happy Insurrection Day: terrible twos [1]

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Date: 2023-01-06  

As we continue to wait for the House GOP to get to 6 “present” votes from the neverKevin dissenters, we “celebrate” a day of infamy. Some “hardline” representatives switched votes to McCarthy during the 12th ballot including the head of the Freedom Caucus.

x 2 yrs ago: Jan 6, 5:04pm, I took this photo of law enforcement using flash bang grenades & tear gas on a violent mob trying to break into the U.S. Capitol. It was hr 4 in my gas mask, helmet & bulletproof vest photographing hand-to-hand combat between police & U.S. citizens. 1/9 pic.twitter.com/Je8Te5fxrN — Leah Millis (@LeahMillis) January 6, 2023

I arrived at the east side of the U.S. Capitol a little after 11am, where a crowd was already gathering. They were fired up, yelling at lawmakers/anyone they could see entering the building. Ppl were especially hostile towards press, yelling and flipping us off. 2/9

A colleague sent a group text alerting us that a crowd had broken through barricades on the west side of the building, so I ran over with two other journalists. First thing I did was put on my gas mask & helmet. 3/9

It became clear fairly quickly that the thin line of police holding back the violent crowd was not going to be able to hold them. There was occasional tear gas & flash bangs, but not enough to deter so many people. 4/9

I heard the entire crowd yelling "heave, ho!" and realized they were about to break into the door on the level above me. I had avoided going up there for fear of no easy exit & getting trampled or attacked. So I climbed the inauguration scaffolding to get a better view. 5/9

At this point it was about 4pm, I had very little cell phone service and did not find out until now that people had breached the building. I texted a colleague I knew was inside asking if they were ok. They just responded they had been attacked. 6/9

I stood up there for about an hour watching/photographing the crowd as they passed objects to the door and fought viciously w the police, who were trying to keep them at bay. People broke nearby windows, climbed in and out, removed furniture. 7/9

By about 4:50pm, reinforcements had arrived. They began using tear gas and flash bangs. 8/9

I took a few wide frames to capture the scene before climbing down. I often think about that day, mostly about how lucky we were that more people were not killed or maimed. 9/9

More context: Behind the Lens Jan 6

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/6/2145762/-Happy-Insurrection-Day-terrible-twos

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