Imagine if Biden supporters had committed the biggest single assault on police officers in U.S. history. Republicans would not let up on it. We would hear about it every day. Yet Trump supporters may have done this very thing on January 6, 2021. I don’t recall ever seeing a news article or even a Daily Kos diary that points out this very important stat.
Based on what I can find on line, it seems as though the Jan 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol was, in terms of injuries sustained by police officers, the largest assault on police officers in U.S. history. I may be wrong, but I can't find comparable examples.
In recent decades there have been periods of protest that have resulted in more police injuries, commensurate with more arrests of protesters, not to mention looters and violence instigators. But these were spread out over several weeks and many locations. Was there ever a time when more than 140 police officers were injured at a single protest event? The September 11 terrorist attacks may have injured more police, though many injuries resulted from the rescue efforts. But I can't find evidence for a protest, strike, racist rally, prohibition bust, concert like Altamont or any other such event where attackers physically injured more than 140 police officers. Maybe Jan 6 is second to September 11. Maybe Pearl Harbor or the Draft Riots of 1863 resulted in more police casualties. It’s hard to look this up because injuries aren’t as common a statistic as deaths or arrests. Injuries to police seem to rarely be reported as casualties like injuries to soldiers during war.
If it turns out that the Jan 6 Trump supporters committed the largest assault on police officers in U.S. history, shouldn't we be saying this over and over in our efforts to frame the discourse, especially when Republicans continue to downplay the extent of the assault on the Capitol? I often read diaries or news articles describing how five people died because of the Jan 6 attacks, that this was the first time the confederate battle flag flew in the US Capitol, insurgents wanted to hang Pence and they smeared feces on walls. Yet I never read that this was one of the largest assaults on police officers in U.S. history. If it was the largest, or if it was second or third, or the largest since 1863, then we need to reframe ASAP to counter Republican propaganda which will continue to steamroll a good portion of our republic.
If you have historical info on large scale police injuries please respond in a comment with a link or other reference so I can update this diary. Thanks.