Watching on television the protesters who have taken over the Capitol in Washington, D.C., State Sen. David Haley, D-4th Dist., today said the protesters should be taken out of the Capitol building.
Instead, they were allowed to roam through the Senate building, according to video on televised reports, looking through papers on senators’ desks. The protesters interrupted the Electoral College proceedings, with the U.S. House and Senate evacuated.
State Sen. Haley, the longest-serving state legislator currently in Wyandotte County, remarked that the authorities need to drag the protesters to the boundaries of the capital streets, not using bullets, but possibly tear gas or nets.
He said he didn’t understand why this was allowed to happen.
“I don’t see what benefit comes from it at all,” Sen. Haley said.
While some people have compared today’s events to the riots of 1968, Sen. Haley said he didn’t see it that way. Those protests were in the streets, not in the Capitol building.
News media also reported that there were protesters in the Topeka state capital today. Sen. Haley said he and many other legislators were planning to return to session on Monday, but were currently not in Topeka.
Newly elected U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, R-2nd Dist., has issued a statement strongly condemning violence at the U.S. Capitol.
“The lawless behavior at the U.S. Capitol is reprehensible and has no place in our country,” LaTurner said in the statement. “This is a stain on American history, and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms. The First Amendment guarantees the right of Americans to peacefully assemble, and I will always defend that right. This is un-American and an utter betrayal of that founding principle. This must stop now.”
U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-3rd Dist., posted on social media that she was safe and sheltering in place while they wait for further instruction from Capitol police.
“Today is a dark day for our country. It’s unacceptable that we have a President who has repeatedly condoned and even encouraged this despicable behavior. It must stop,” Rep. Davids stated in the social media post.
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, stated his condemnation of the violence in a news release.
“I condemn the violence and destruction at the U.S. Capitol in the strongest possible terms. It is completely unacceptable and unpatriotic,” Sen. Moran stated. “God Bless Capitol Police and our law enforcement officers. Please pray for our nation.”
Newly elected U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, posted a statement on social media: “The freedom of speech and the freedom to protest are provided in our Constitution. I share the frustration many Americans have over the Presidential Election; however, what happened at the U.S. Capitol today is unreasonable and unacceptable and I condemn it at the highest level. America needs to know we will not be deterred by violence. I am thankful for the heroic law enforcement officers who are working feverishly to restore order.”
Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican, issued this statement on today’s violence at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.:
“The lawlessness at the U.S. Capitol today is sickening, shameful, inexcusable and counterproductive. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms. This riot, like others before it over the past year, offends the law and order we fight to preserve every day, and it insults the men and women who fought and died for our Constitution and who serve the rule of law. America resolves even our most profound differences through democratic debate, through judicial processes, and sometimes through genuinely peaceful protest, but never through violence.”