NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Black clergy and city elected leaders, including Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, are accusing police of a double standard when it came to Wednesday's deadly riots at the U.S. Capitol and the summer's Black Lives Matter protests.
The mayoral candidate declared "we're outraged, we're angry" after witnessing a Confederate flag raised in the Capitol Rotunda and video of officers appearing to remove barricades as an insurrectionist mob occupied the House and Senate chambers, disrupting the Electoral College count.
"They scaled the walls, they had pipe bombs, they broke windows, they fought with police. They were met with shrugs and selfies," City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said.
The group alleges the response by the Capitol Police shows two standards of justice that is unacceptable.
"Where were the rubber bullets yesterday? Where was the tear gas yesterday?" Adams, a former NYPD officer, said Thursday at a news conference outside the Department of Justice headquarters. "What I witnessed yesterday clearly shows that there are several laws that were violated - obstruction of justice, destruction of federal property, assault on an officer, insurrection and seditious conspiracy."
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Adams said the rioters can be identified through photos and videos and must be brought to justice.
He and others are calling on the Justice Department to investigate not only the police response, but also the president himself for inciting riot.
"We want a commission, like we had after 9/11, be convened to determine how these people were able to easily breach the Capitol yesterday and who is responsible," Adams said. "We are determined to find justice and ensure you don't police one group based on ethnicity one way and police another group another way."
Williams said the responsibility lies with the president, who promotes law and order for some, but not others.
"Law and order to you means bashing in Black and Brown bodies, but it means leaving those white supremacists alone in the Capitol building," Williams said.
City Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo of Brooklyn believes it was an inside job.
"I know that this president of the United States gave orders to not have the hair on a protester hurt or touched and that's what needs to be investigated," she claimed.
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Capitol Police say they came under attack with metal pipes, chemical irritants and other weapons. The police chief defended his officers saying that they “acted valiantly when faced with thousands of individuals involved in violent riotous actions.”
The department has come under heavy scrutiny over their handling of the situation, with some accusing police of a double standard when it came to the deadly riots at the U.S. Capitol and the summer's Black Lives Matter protests.
"In June, during the heat of the George Floyd protests there were about 5,000 National Guardsmen and 1,600 active duty troops that were brought to the DC area in advance of the protests," CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues said. "We just did not see that kind of preparation underway for yesterday's rallies and march, it just was not there."
Washington's mayor called the police response “a failure" and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also called for Chief Steven Sund to resign.
Pegues said the protests were not a surprise so there are many questions surrounding the security failures.
"Once the crowds moved to the Capitol, they were not met with significant law enforcement deployment," Pegues said. "It seems to me Capitol Hill Police were underprepared because they are 2,00 strong but they had a fraction of that number at the Capitol yesterday, and the question is why."
Pegues said there will have to be changes given the security breach and lessons will be learned to prevent something similar from happening again.
Former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said the breach should never have happened.
"I think it's a national embarrassment. I don't know what these people are trying to accomplish but you cannot accomplish anything through violence, ultimately," Kelly said. "I'm surprised, quite frankly, at the lack of security. The Capitol Police has over 2,000 officers and I'm not certain who was in charge or what was supposed to happen but to ultimately allow people to get on the Senate floor, to me, I thought that could never happen."
Metropolitan Police reported at least 68 arrests, mostly for violating the curfew.
Four people died, including a woman who was shot and killed by police inside the Capitol.
The officer involved has been put on administrative leave following the fatal shooting.