US President-elect Joe Biden has accused authorities of treating pro-Donald Trump protesters more leniently than anti-racism demonstrators who were forcibly dispersed by police in Washington last year.
"No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesters yesterday ... they wouldn't have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol," Mr Biden said on Thursday.
"We all know that's true, and it is unacceptable."
Mr Biden also called the group "domestic terrorists" and laid the blame for the violence squarely at the outgoing president's feet.
He said people should not call the hundreds who broke into the Capitol protesters - rather, he said, they were "a riotous mob - insurrectionists, domestic terrorists".
The images of the crowd racing through the Capitol building on Wednesday stood in sharp contrast to the handling of anti-racism protests near the White House a few months ago.
The White House was surrounded by multiple blocks of buffers, and law enforcement officers used tear gas, projectiles and at one point the downward blast of a helicopter’s rotor to push back protesters separated from the building by rings of fencing.
In contrast, the streets around the Capitol were open on Wednesday morning, and scatterings of Capitol Police stood at low metal barriers resembling bicycle racks. This was despite before the rally.
An image of a police officer taking a selfie with a member of the violent mob was also circulated on social media.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said the world "witnessed two systems of justice" on Wednesday, when "we saw one that let extremists storm the United States Capitol, and other that released tear gas on peaceful protesters last summer."
A police officer is seen taking a selfie with a pro-Trump rioter in Washington. Source: Twitter
"We know this is unacceptable, we know we should be better than this," she said on Thursday.
"The challenge we are facing in our country is about more than the actions of the few we watched yesterday. It's about how to reform, how to transform, a justice system that does not work equally for all.
"A justice system that is experienced differently depending on if you're white or black ... rich or poor."
‘Systemic failure’
Meanwhile, members of the US Congress on Friday asked why the police force charged with protecting them allowed the rioters to burst into the Capitol, smashing windows, stealing and forcing politicians to evacuate.
The pro-Trump protesters also ransacked members’ offices, stole at least one computer and left threatening messages as they roamed through the building for hours.
“There was a severe systemic failure in securing the building’s perimeter and in the response once the building was breached,” House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro and Representative Tim Ryan, who is leading a probe into the riot, said in a statement.
“We must get to the bottom of these breakdowns and prevent them from ever happening again,” they added.
A supporter of President Donald Trump sits inside the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Source: Getty Images
When she joined dozens of House of Representatives members in the safe room where they sheltered after protesters attempted to burst into their chamber, Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed to review how long it had taken reinforcements for the Capitol Police to arrive.
Ms Pelosi and other politicians also praised the Capitol Police for having protected them, their staff and the news media during the incident. Many officers were injured.
Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell called the breach a “shocking failure.”
Additional reporting: AFP, Reuters
