Arlington County Police officers in riot gear could be seen defending the U.S. Capitol tonight in a new video.
The video (below) shows ACPD officers alongside Virginia State Police and D.C. Metropolitan Police in front of the Capitol, keeping back an angry pro-Trump crowd. The video-taker says it was taken around 5:40 p.m., just before a curfew took effect in D.C. and Arlington.
Later in the video, Metropolitan Police officers can be seen pushing back the crowd, to jeers. At one point, a man holding a large Confederate flag starts fighting with police and is taken to the ground by a group of baton-wielding D.C. officers.
Large contingents of Arlington police and Virginia State Police are in the District as a result of a mutual aid request from D.C. authorities amid the storming of the Capitol.
The sight of riot gear-clad Arlington officers in the District is striking given the events of this past summer, when similarly-equipped Arlington officers — supporting U.S. Park Police outside the White House after a mutual aid request — were pulled from D.C. after being pressed into service clearing crowds for a presidential photo op.