BLM riots caused 1,300 times as much damage as Jan. 6 violence: Analysis

By Bob Unruh

Black Lives Matter activists confront a woman at a D.C. restaurant Aug. 24, 2020 (video screenshot)
Black Lives Matter activists confront a woman at a D.C. restaurant Aug. 24, 2020 (video screenshot)

An analysis by Real Clear Investigations reveals that the BLM and Antifa related riots across all of America in 2020 caused 1,300 times as much damage as the violence at the U.S. Capitol a year ago.

Yet the attention given to each scenario is widely different – in the opposite direction.

Real Clear this week released updated and revised details comparing the two events – the year-long violence in cities that erupted after the death of George Floyd, and the few hours of violence at the Capitol by those protesting what they saw as election failures during the 2020 presidential race.

“The one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot arrives this week with Americans still sharply divided over the afternoon-long episode’s significance and severity as Democrats, hemorrhaging support and facing the loss of Congress in this year’s midterms, sternly present a media spectacle of public events to emphasize what they see as the threat posed to democracy by Donald Trump and his party, as represented by that day,” the update explains.

“There is no comparable scrutiny of the nationwide summer 2020 riots over George Floyd’s murder, protests endorsed by many on the left amid a virulent pandemic – although polling has shown that a large majority of Americans support examining the circumstances of both events.”

The report explained the database allows readers “to draw their own conclusions” about a variety of events “including the all-but-forgotten riot in Washington on Inauguration Day 2017, as protesters challenged Trump’s election and legitimacy.”

The summary notes, “The summer 2020 riots resulted in some 15 times more injured police officers, 23 times as many arrests, and estimated damages in dollar terms up to 1,300 times more costly than those of the Capitol riot.

Black Lives Matter protesters march and chant in Rochester, New York on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2020 (Video screenshot)
Black Lives Matter protesters march and chant in Rochester, New York on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2020 (Video screenshot)

“Authorities have pursued the largely Trump-supporting Capitol rioters with substantially more vigor than suspected wrongdoers in the earlier two cases, and prosecutors and judges alike have weighed Capitol riot defendants’ political views in adjudicating their cases,” it continued.

“Dozens of accused Capitol rioters have been held in pretrial detention for months, where they have allegedly been mistreated,” the report said, compared to, “In the summer 2020 riots, the vast majority of charges were dismissed, as they were in the Inauguration 2017 unrest.”

The details reveal that in the BLM riots, “several” defendants were held for “months,” while among those arrested for their actions at the Capitol, “dozens held for months or longer, with some likely to spend over a year in jail pre-trial.”

The 2020 events, and the 2017 inauguration violence, both were classified by the government as “riots.” But the Biden administration repeatedly has classified the Capitol events as “Domestic terrorism.”

There, knives, flag poles, bats and tasers were found. In the 2020 riots, there were “firearms, incendiary devices including Molotov cocktails, vehicles, rocks, bricks, bottles (frozen water and glass), fireworks” and more were found.

Capitol officers was “bludgeoning, pushing and trampling, crushing in doorways.” Those responding to try to control the 2020 BLM riots saw “shooting at officers, throwing Molotov cocktails at officers standing in skirmish lines, or behind officers to trap them…”

The BLM violence included, “Burned buildings and cars, looted stores, smashes storefronts, property destruction.” At the Capitol, there was “broken glass, doors, graffiti, damage to statues, murals.”

Significant is the fact that prosecutors and judges considering the Capitol cases have “cited defendants’ views regarding elections as indicating their danger,” the report noted.

When the analysis originally was released, it was revealed there were 140 officers who were assaulted during the Capitol riot, but 2,037 assaulted during the George Floyd events.

There were 570 Capitol riot arrests, but 16,241 from the George Floyd riots.

There was about $1.5 million in damage at the Capitol riot, but up to $2 billion in damages from the George Floyd riots.

At the time, Real Clear reported, “Many in the political and media establishment have cast the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol as one of the darkest episodes in American history, comparing an episode in which one person was slain (a protester shot by police) to 9/11, Pearl Harbor, the Civil War, and the British sacking of the capital city in 1814. Seizing on the gravity of a mob trying to interfere with the process of recording Electoral College votes after a presidential election, Democrats impeached Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 breach and put him on trial in the Senate. Democrats have also spearheaded a congressional investigation – one focused on the former president – that will likely stretch into next election season.”

It continued, “Republicans, Trump supporters, and others see a double standard at play in Democrats’ emphasis on Jan. 6. They note that many Democrats cheered nationwide protests and some even put up bail after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd, a black man, by a white police officer — prolonged unrest that generated far more death and destruction. They argue that groups associated with the summer’s violence, such as Black Lives Matter and Antifa, themselves aim to subvert democracy, and acted accordingly in targeting cops, public offices, and private businesses.”

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Bob Unruh

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially. Read more of Bob Unruh's articles here.


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