Video of Woman Goes Viral after Calling Storming US Capitol A ‘Revolution’ (+Video)
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – In a video posted online that has since gone viral, a woman called storming the US Capitol Building on Wednesday a revolution.
The woman who even identified herself by name and where she is from, admitted that she stormed the US Capitol.
The chaotic protest by the angry supporters of President Donald Trump was aimed at thwarting a transfer of power, forcing lawmakers to be rushed from the building.
As Congress worked to certify President-Elect Joe Biden's election win, one woman who identified herself only as "Elizabeth from Knoxville" caught the collective ire and mirth of social media.
Footage of Elizabeth claiming she was maced after trying to "storm the capitol" on Wednesday began to go viral on Twitter, Instagram, and Tik Tok that same night.
As the American people collectively process the violence that disrupted a peaceful transfer of power on Wednesday, the video of "Elizabeth from Knoxville" has become an impetus for larger conversation online - a way to talk about police brutality, white privilege, and the chaos of the day within one twenty-eight second video.
The video, taken by Yahoo.com reporter Hunter Walker, shows her walking through the crowd with a male companion. Walker stops her to ask what happened.
"I got maced," she says, wiping her eyes with a blue towel. "By the police," the man next to her clarifies.
Walker then asks if she was trying to get into the capitol.
"Yeah! I made it like a foot inside and they pushed me out, and they maced me," she said.
She then tells Walker her name is Elizabeth, and that she is from Knoxville, Tennessee.
When asked by Walker what she was doing there, she is forthright in her response.
"We're storming the Capitol!" she replies. "It's a revolution!"
Some reactions to the video taken of Elizabeth are mirthful; people poke fun at her apparent shock that she would encounter resistance while trying to, in her own words, "storm the capitol" for a "revolution."
However, the footage of 'Elizabeth' largely drew angry reactions online and many people called for her to be prosecuted with a crime.
Others juxtaposed 'Elizabeth''s shock at her illegal actions against a myriad of oppressive experiences BIPOC endure in the United States, reacting to her situation with disdain.
Knoxville Representative Gloria Johnson also referenced Knoxville Elizabeth in a tweet, writing: “Look out #Knoxville Elizabeth, trump’s prosecutors just said if you traveled from a state to participate in this, you will be prosecuted. I wonder if that goes for members of the lege too?”
At at least 10 p.m. on Wednesday, police had arrested 30 people for violating a curfew imposed in Washington, D.C., after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, according to AP.
Officials say the 30 people were arrested Wednesday evening after being found on the streets after the 6 p.m.
Four people died in the violent occupation; a woman who was shot by the US Capitol Police, and three others who died in "medical emergencies".
The curfew had been imposed after scores of supporters of President Donald Trump broke into the Capitol, halting the constitutional process of voting to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s win. They were later forcibly removed from the Capitol.
Together, the protests and the GOP election objections amounted to an almost unthinkable challenge to American democracy and exposed the depths of the divisions that have coursed through the country during Trump’s four years in office.
Though the efforts to block Biden from being sworn in on Jan. 20 failed, the support Trump has received for his efforts to overturn the election results have badly strained the US’s democratic guardrails.