CHAPTER 4: No Perimeter Defense
1:00 PM: An initial wave of protesters arrives at the outer barricades below the west side of the Capitol as thousands more march towards the building.
Elijah Schaffer of The Blaze later tweets a video: “This is exact moment the siege of the Capitol building began as the two men in front ripped down a preliminary barrier & rushed officers who were behind a 2nd barrier They then encouraged others to follow their lead. Officers appeared to be taken completely off guard.”
1:00 PM: USCP Chief Steven Sund calls Acting D.C. Police Chief Robert J. Contee, requesting officers for the protection of the Capitol complex itself.
Contee later says he arrived at the Capitol around 1 p.m. and saw pepper spray and munitions being used. He says he then called Mayor Bowser…He later went to the Police Command Center to orchestrate D.C. police response. Contee said the first goal, after the police were formally invited by USCP to the Capitol, was to help clear the building.
There are already many D.C. Police on duty and battling protestors on the National Mall to the west and below the Capitol Complex, which is Congressional property. The
