“There was much intel of what this group was coming to D.C. to do. They had been talking about it on social media. The president actually was promoting it. The fact that law enforcement agencies, particularly the Capitol Police, was ill-equipped to deal with what their stated purpose was, and it was to disrupt the certification of the election, that’s in stark contrast to the peaceful protests that we’ve seen in D.C. and all across the country,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in an interview Thursday with CBSN anchor Tanya Rivero.
The response to Black Lives Matter protesters, he said, “was as if they were criminals, and they were simply carrying out a First Amendment right to protest.”
“It is unfortunate that individuals who are domestic terrorists are able to come to the nation’s capitol and terrorize not only members of Congress but staff and others,” Johnson said of the pro-Trump rioters.
Others, including President-elect Joe Biden and former first lady Michelle Obama, reiterated the sentiment in their own statements and remarks on Thursday.