A plaque honoring police service on Jan. 6, 2021, on the Capitol on Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Washington, D.C.
Allison Robbert | AP Picture
Guests to the Capitol will now have a visual reminder of the violent assault towards the constructing on Jan. 6, 2021, and the officers who fought and had been injured that day.
Steps from the Capitol’s West Entrance and the place the worst of the combating occurred, employees quietly have put in a plaque honoring the officers, three years after it was required by legislation to be erected. The plaque was positioned on the Senate facet of the hallway as a result of the Senate voted unanimously in January to put in it after Home Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had delayed placing it up.
“On behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the extraordinary people who bravely protected and defended this image of democracy on January 6, 2021,” the plaque says. “Their heroism won’t ever be forgotten.”
The Washington Put up first reported the set up of the plaque, which was witnessed by a reporter about 4 a.m. EST Saturday.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., led the trouble to put in it as he commemorated the fifth anniversary of the assault and described his recollections of listening to individuals break into the constructing. “We owe them everlasting gratitude, and this nation is stronger due to them,” he mentioned of the officers who had been overwhelmed by hundreds of President Donald Trump’s supporters and finally pushed them out of the constructing.
The mob of rioters who violently pushed previous police and broke in had been echoing Trump’s false claims of a stolen election after the Republican was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden within the 2020 presidential election. The group stopped the congressional certification of Biden’s victory for a number of hours, despatched lawmakers working and vandalized the constructing earlier than police regained management. Greater than 140 officers from the U.S. Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police Division and different businesses had been injured.
The struggle to have the plaque put in got here as Trump returned to workplace final 12 months and the Republican Congress has remained loyal to him. Trump, who has referred to as Jan. 6 a “day of affection,” has tried to deflect blame on Democrats and police for instigating the assault.
Congress handed a legislation in 2022 that set out directions for the honorific plaque itemizing the names of officers “who responded to the violence that occurred.” It gave a one-year deadline for set up, however the plaque by no means went up.
Capitol tour guides take photographs of a plaque honoring police service on Jan. 6, 2021, on the Capitol on Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Washington, D.C.
Allison Robbert | AP Picture
After greater than a 12 months of silence — and a lawsuit by two of the officers who fought on the Capitol that day — Johnson mentioned at first of the 12 months that there have been technical issues with the statute and the plaque couldn’t be erected.
Tillis went to the Senate ground shortly afterward and handed a decision, with no objections, to position the plaque on the Senate facet.
One of many officers who sued, Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, mentioned the lawsuit would proceed. Hodges, who was crushed by the rioters within the heavy doorways are steps away from the place the plaque is now displayed, mentioned Saturday that the in a single day set up was a “high quality stopgap” however that it was not in full compliance of the legislation. The unique statute mentioned that the entire officers names ought to be listed, amongst different technical specs.
“The burden of a judicial ruling would assist safe the memorial towards future tampering,” Hodges mentioned. “Our lawsuit persists.”
