US Shocked After National Guardsmen Kicked Out of Capitol Building, Forced to Lodge at Parking Lot After Inauguration

By Staff, Agencies

The US Capitol Police are in hot water again after ordering National Guardsmen protecting the Capitol in Washington, DC to leave and find accommodation elsewhere.

The decision was overturned hours later amid a public outcry.

Almost 26,000 National Guard troops were flown and bussed to the US capital from all around the country after the January 6 riot. The unprecedented military surge made Washington, DC look like a US-occupied foreign city such as Fallujah, according to some commenters. Joe Biden’s inauguration day came and passed without any public disturbances.

The special security event announced by the US Secret Service for the inauguration ceremony ended at noon on Thursday. Somebody in the US Capitol Police then seemingly decided it was high time for National Guard troops to vacate the Capitol Building, where they had been quartered for two weeks.

Hundreds of Guardsmen were suddenly expelled and forced to look for a new place to sleep – including in the nearby congressional parking garages. The troops there suffered from shortages of restrooms and sockets to charge devices, plus exhaust fumes, overcrowding, and other issues. Understandably, the eviction left many of them with a feeling of humiliation and betrayal.

Images of soldiers napping on the ground in a parking lot unleashed a wave of public fury. Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle offered the Guardsmen their offices as lodging.

Congressman Madison Cawthorn visited the troops with some pizzas and an assurance that no soldier will sleep on a garage floor as long as he has something to say about it.

Other politicians seized the opportunity for some partisan bickering as they blamed the other side for the mistreatment of the troops.

Hours after the story was first broken by Politico – and seemingly with quite a few phone calls involved – the Capitol Police apologized to the Guardsmen and allowed them back into the Capitol Building.