City council members on Tuesday night vigorously defended their backing of a statement decrying the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, drawing response from a resident who said they ignored the violence of summer marches protesting police shootings.
Mayor Brian Bagley, who described himself as the only non- Democrat on the council, said the council voted for the statement because the ransacking of the U.S. House and Senate offices were a brazen strike against democracy.
“The appropriate venue if you disagreed with the vote (in the 2020 election) is in the voting booth in 2024,” Bagley said. The riot was “highly inappropriate, it was illegal, it was wrong.”
The statement to which council lent its support on Tuesday reads in part: “Sadness, outrage, and foreboding were our initial emotional reactions to what we observed. We are still sad, angry and deeply worried about the willingness of Americans, in the name of patriotism, to desecrate the principles, ideals, and institutions for which literally millions of patriotic Americans gave the last full measure of service.”
Council voted 7-0 to approve the statement. Resident Matt Mendez said the council also should have spoken out about the damage caused by far left-groups in cities, including Denver, during summer protests over the deaths of Black people at the hands of police nationwide.
“This is a very serious issue,” Mendez said. “A lot of people are now afraid to go into bigger cities and downtown. I want to see you denouncing all the violence that happened this past year.”
Mendez also said those who rushed the national capitol were “idiots.”
Mendez was among about 35 residents who spoke during the council’s open forum event, which allows Longmonters to speak on any subject and then lets council members respond to their comments. No other speakers objected to the council’s statement on the Capitol riot.
Councilmember Tim Waters told Mendez that council in June passed a resolution asking residents to protest peacefully against police shootings.
Councilmember Polly Christensen said the Jan. 6 insurrection and the summer marches were different in tone and purpose.
“The people who marched this summer were trying to … bring attention to the fact that for 400 years, Black people in this country were treated worse than dogs and they were finally tired of it,” Christensen said.
CORRECTION: Mayor Brian Bagley said he was the only non-Democrat on the City Council
