Two weeks ago, an article outlined student opinions on the planned rally at the US Capitol building. The rally aimed to protest the imprisonment of the January 6 rioters.
The protest occurred on September 18 and lasted only 90 minutes, with very little issues surrounding the event.
Now, the students from before are speaking out about how they feel about the rally, now that the event has happened.
Political Science major Hanna Rubenthal was concerned about the rally becoming a repeat of the January 6 protest.
“I believed there was a good chance for what happened at the beginning of the year to happen again,” Rubenthal said. “I am very glad that I was wrong.”
Ian Theppe, another political science major, hoped the protests would remain peaceful.
“I feel relieved that it was peaceful, though I think it didn’t hurt that the rally was relatively small,” Theppe said.
Engineering major Andrew Zhan originally said that the protests in support of the protestors may have been a good thing.
“Like I said before, I believe that some of those who have been arrested maybe didn’t do anything too bad,” Zhan said. “Obviously there are those who do deserve to be behind bars for this, but let’s make sure those who do deserve some support get it. That’s what this rally did.”
The fourth student in the original article, sociology major Justin Haege, declined to be interviewed again, however did give a reason.
Haege said, “The situation is aggravating to me and I’d rather not keep giving it my time or attention.”
Haege originally spoke out against the rally entirely and deemed it a “bad joke.”
According to US Capitol Police, 400 to 450 protesters arrived and maintained the rally within the protest area. Reportedly four arrests were made for protestors who tried to leave the protest area, but otherwise everything seemed to remain a peaceful protest.
“I see this as an all-around good thing,” Zhan said. “These protestors got to make their presence known and push their message, while also showing that it doesn’t have to be violent.”
“I like that it was peaceful. However, I think that it does show that some people are willing to forgive anyone so long as they align with them politically,” Rubenthal said.
“Everyone has a right to protest,” Theppe said. “But I do think that protesting the lawful arrest and imprisonment of people who attacked the seat of our nation’s government is only going to worsen polarization.”
“People on the left will look at this and probably think it’s embarrassing while those on the right might agree or at least tolerate it,” Theppe said. “Either way it will likely lead to even worse relationships between the parties, especially once more people are charged for that day.”
Matt Braynard, the executive director of Look Ahead America and the director of the event claimed that, “This isn’t about President Trump or Biden or your political party. It’s about human rights and civil rights.”
Zhan echoed the sentiment.
“I think we should at least do a little better job reviewing things like if they were actually violent or intended to do bad things before, we lock them up completely. They have a right to protests and unless they can prove they had the intent on being violent, we have to respect that right,” said Zhan.
“I don’t think this is the end,” said Rubenthal. “We’re going to keep going and I still do believe that rallies, protests, and counter protests will build until we see another violent outburst.”
