PROTEST EYEWITNESS - WASHINGTON, D. C.

PROTEST EYEWITNESS  

WASHINGTON, D. C.

By Andy Weddington (Intro only) 

Sunday, 10 January 2021

Nothing spoils a good story like the arrival of an eyewitness. - Mark Twain

Introduction ...

I quit watching and listening to big media reports and reports of 

reports, etc., of what happened during the protest Wednesday past in 

Washington, D. C. 

The coverage theater. 

Truth demanded. 

This afternoon a friend sent a friend's eyewitness account. With

permission, published exactly as received only formatting for ease of 

reading.  

One American's take ...

 

Friends, Family, Colleagues and Fellow Americans,

Greetings all!

 

I am saddened to feel compelled to write this account and comments regarding the recent events in our great Capital on January 6^th.  First

and upfront, let me say I do not and will never condone an attack,

destruction or illegal activity on our Nation’s great monuments and 

certainly not on “the people’s house”.  Those who acted unlawfully, 

threatened others and caused destruction on the Capitol Building on

Wednesday should be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent.  The

environment set up before, the occurrence and the acts inside the

building are unacceptable bar none.  Bar none!

What saddens and angers me most is that the selfish acts of a few from

whatever faction they may have come have now overshadowed what

should have been a shining moment for America.  Those who now

speak and characterize the whole day based only on what they believe

happened inside those sacred halls are dishonest and using the event

against the American people.  The whole truth is what needs to be

told, so let me provide one man’s observation and ground truth.  The

truth of what occurred inside and yet to be determined will hopefully

be yielded from a true and honest investigation.  What occurred

outside however was by any account an exceptional representation of

American citizenry now overshadowed by the acts of a few.

From the beginning, the rally at the Ellipse earlier in the day was

attended by citizens from many states and I dare say there was

someone from every state in attendance.  I met people from Alaska,

California, Texas, Illinois, Vermont and even Puerto Rico.I met a 

Native American gentlemen from Oklahoma who I greeted and

who stood beside me during the rally.  A New Yorker introduced us to

his friends from Chile, who had traveled a hemisphere away for a first 

time to visit to our great Nation.

What a shame they were not able to visit the great venues, museums

and monuments of our great Capital much less the once and future

great city of New York where life seemingly on hold.  In all at the

rally there had to be at least a million citizens gathered at the center of

democracy.  They were of every race, creed, religion, age, clime and

place.  They were there as clearly stated by the hundreds to whom I

spoke to support the President and more importantly to ensure their

voice and concern for election integrity was heard.   They were there

to exercise their 1^st Amendment and inalienable right to free speech.

I witnessed at the rally as I listened to the “guest speakers” no inciting

of violence, no motivation of insurrection or anything of the like.  The

videos of the President and all the speakers are recorded to be listened

to in full over and over again.  There was no hidden message and I

saw no one in the hundreds around me who interpreted it as such.  The

enormous crowd was jovial, congenial, and positive and nowhere did

I see any signs of impending violence or subversive behavior or

intent.  People laughed, greeted each other and took pride in the

opportunity to be gathered together in common cause.  Weapons or

the like were not allowed inside the rally and the prevalence of them

outside was not of any note or concern.  

This same tone continued afterward and during the long walk to the 

Capitol Building.  There were hundreds of flags and signs raised, 

positive chants of USA and committed support to the Republic along 

with singing andcamaraderie.  There was no storming, no disorder and 

no craziness.Patriotic protest if you will and of course always a few 

individual“shouters” in the crowd, but just a peaceful gathering to 

express concern for the Nation.  

Oddly, except for the police stationed at barriers to keep traffic away 

from downtown and unusually a wider perimeter set, I saw almost no 

police on the street.  Certainly there were no National Guard which we 

had heard were being considered.  Almost every store was closed and 

except for the expansive crowd and the many street vendors, the streets 

were empty.  It was really a bit strange to see and quite frankly 

unnoticeable to the average person who was caught up in the spirit of 

the moment.  I observed the same on the slow walk to the Capitol 

Grounds, and before and after the events that occurred inside.

To help understand the emotion and sentiment of the occasion as I saw 

expressed across the gathering, let me give an exceptional example.  A 

group of some 20 marchers took a very large flag as one would see on 

a sports field at halftime, and floated it along the street all the way to 

the Capitol Grounds.  Hundreds of people took the opportunity to 

touch Old Glory’s hem, to assist a few yards to keep her afloat and feel 

her majesty.  I did the same as it passed by.  

By the time we had made our way to the lower terrace and the bottom 

of the Capitol steps, the flag bearers were moving up the right side 

steps of the Capitol and onto to the infrastructure that had been set up 

for the inauguration.  As they unfurled the “red, white and blue” down 

the structure everyone cheered and then lo and behold sang the 

National Anthem.  I thought to myself as I observed the top of the 

structure and people waving and singing, what the definition of 

rampart means.  Wow!  It was a sight to behold and one of the most 

inspiring, patriotic moments I have witnessed in decades of service.  

Around me stood mothers, fathers, children, old, young, wheel-chaired 

and people of all types, races, creeds and religion, but they stood 

together as citizens concerned for their country.  They stood as 

Americans.

As the crowd continued in celebration and camaraderie, I noted that 

there were easily 700, 800 thousand filling the steps and spreading out 

over the front yard of the “people’s house”.  Let me be clear about this 

peaceful protest outside of the building.  It was NOT a “mob”. There 

was NO mobbing, NO rioting, NO attacking or any of the like outside.  

Nor did the upwards of a million people outside have any idea what 

was going on inside except for the clips of news regarding the process 

within. About this time we received the notice of a 6PM curfew to be 

implemented by the Mayor and possibly a call up of the National 

Guard.  

Again oddly, there were no police or security anywhere other 

than on the roof top terrace and near the entrances into the building.  

There was no leadership to address the masses, no one to give some 

guidance or safety notices and no one to provide any understanding of 

the situation if it was needed.  Again it seemed very odd and 

unfortunate that a few of our illustrious government leaders did not 

take the opportunity to address this incredible representation of 

America and her concerned citizens.  This was an opportunity lost.

The first time we had any call for concern came when the Capitol 

Police ignited tear gas at the top of the front steps near the left entrance 

of the building.  I’m sure they we reacting to the events inside and 

certainly would have been concerned with the enormous mass of 

people outside.  Which truly if they had wanted could have taken over 

the building with ease.  However, the crowd in general mostly moved 

down from the top terrace and away from the gas.  I witnessed and 

heard a couple of individuals who said they had been inside and had to 

escape through a window.  We were taken back by this and it was the 

first we heard of anyone having gone inside the building.  Later as we 

moved further down to the sidewalk, another burst of tear gas at the 

top of the stair appeared.  We witnessed another individual shouting 

that he had been inside, but still for all of the crowd across the grounds 

there was no indication of something bad happening until the clips of 

news began to appear on our phones.  

By this time the majority of the massive crowd had dispersed and was 

making their way down the walks away from the building.  This 

movement was not panic, fear nor incendiary.  The movement was as 

if you were leaving a concert that had no encore, or leaving a ball 

game that ended in a tie.  Everyone walked passively back toward the 

White House, hotels, and transportation.  My only caveat is I do not 

know what we did not see, but from the Capitol along Pennsylvania 

Avenue to the Whites House, there was no shouting, looting, and 

destruction of property, harassment of people or any such unlawful and 

unacceptable behavior.  I saw no reason at any time to justify calling 

out the National Guard.  To use the word insurrection or storming in 

regard to the events is dangerous and simply untruthful in 

characterizing the day or anything I witnessed.

As we made our own way back to the garage where we had parked, the 

walk was a simple stroll.  By this time we were reading sporadic and 

limited reporting on our phone of the alleged actions inside the Capitol 

Building.  Nearing 6PM at that point there was almost no one on the 

streets.  The only concerning moment we had was a few blocks behind 

the White House where a group of some 20 BLM’ers were holding 

signs and making photos of themselves while shouting expletives to 

the air and anyone within shouting distance.  “F” Trump, “F” you and 

“F” everyone was what they shouted.  I saw no such behavior by 

anyone attending the rally and gathering all day.  

At this point, my only concern was an older couple passing the 

opposite direction.  The gentlemen was wearing a Trump watch cap 

and I stopped and ensured the couple made their way passed and to a 

safe distance from the BLM activity.  We then returned to our vehicle 

and made our way home.  Listening to the small snippets of news as 

we made way across the river, I thought to myself, “Was there a 

different event that had taken place?”

Lastly, let me again reiterate my dismay at any illegal and unwarranted 

action that took place inside the sacred halls of our Capitol Building.  

Again, totally unacceptable.  From a broader perspective I am still 

appalled at the characterization of the whole day as it continues to be 

overshadowed and dismissed because of the actions inside the 

building.  Also unacceptable is the extreme left’s actions and the main 

stream media’s creation of a false narrative.  It is dishonest, self-

serving and cannot stand.  

The environment which has been created by weak leadership in our 

representation, the leftist mass media, the dangerous tech giants and 

some who live in the shadows of global organizations should be a 

wake-up call to every American.  The siege is on the American way of 

life and a threat to our Nation.  For the sake of true democracy, for the 

Republic, our children and the future, every citizen must stand strong 

and stand committed to the great legacy of our Founders and to the 

Constitution.  I urge every citizen, right, left and center to protect these 

values, morals and truths.  If we lose them, America will no longer 

exist.  We are at a crossroads and we have been here before.  The 

example set for the next generation and the world is critical to the 

existence of every citizen’s basic human rights and our individual 

Freedom.  We cannot continue to be a beacon in the dark and the 

shining light on the hill if we fail to step up to the call of Liberty.

Peace be with you, God bless you and God bless America.