Democrats Abroad describe storming of Capitol Hill as a wake-up call for America

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — A member of the Vancouver chapter of Democrats Abroad is describing the protesters at Capitol Hill in the U.S. as armed terrorists encouraged by President Donald Trump and his Republican cronies.

Jennifer Phillips says what happened Wednesday is not a protest, but a failed coup attempt that would not have been tolerated if most of those involved were people of colour.

She says evidence of racial injustice in America is “deafening.”

“Many armed, mostly white, individuals who illegally trespassed and broke into the Capitol wielding guns were then allowed to walk off the hill and disperse. The police would have never responded in this way for a Black Lives Matter protest or any other protests that are led by people of colour. It’s important that America wakes up to this outrage.”

"We demand the prosecution to the fullest extent of the law of those who would use force to overthrow our elected government. This is not a protest. This is an insurrection… the racial injustice on evidence here is deafening."

-Jennifer Phillips @DemsAbroadVan @NEWS1130

— Marcella Bernardo (@MBernardoNews) January 7, 2021

Phillips adds, the riots did not occur overnight, but was something in the making for a while. Phillips is accusing Trump of inciting violence by suggesting this election was stolen from him.

“We had an election. That was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it. Especially the other side,” Trump said in a video posted to Twitter.

In the video he also told protesters, “you have to go home now,” and that “we have to have peace, we have to have law and order.”

RELATED: Twitter suspends Trump’s account for 12 hours for violations of ‘Civic Integrity Policy’

Phillps says Trump’s “outrageously inflammatory and baseless statements” versus making a call to de-escalate the violence is “insurrection” and goes against the foundation of American democracy.

She adds, President-elect Joe Biden has a difficult job ahead of him since he will need to “heal the nation” and work to include all Americans.

“We will be forced on a path of healing this device.”