On January 6, 2021, America witnessed a riot, an insurrection, a great assault on world’s most preserved democracy, sparked by Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election and the peddling conspiracy that he won by a lot. His supporters attacked the Capitol building in Washington, D.C with the aim to prevent a joint session of Congress from counting the electoral college votes to formalize the victory of the then president-elect Joe Biden. This is an attempt by the former president to overturn the results of the election making his supporters to believe that he won, an all round threats to democratic institutions of United States, which the world viewed as the best democracy in the globe.
This is riot Americans will not easily forgot an attack and mockery to their cherished institution, which has also extended a scar to world’s democratic institutions where protesters are storming into parliamentary building to show their grievance to the terrible situations in their countries. The mob who attacked US Capitol threatened violence against the former vice president, Mike Pence and lawmakers, five people died from the insurrection. On his “Save America” rally on the Ellipse, Trump repeatedly spreading false claims about irregularities in the election, made the speech that sparked his mob supporters to Washington, D.C “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” He was impeached a week after the riot, making him the first US president that was impeached twice on the ground of incitement of insurrection.
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Sri Lank has been in deep economic mess, following months of economic, political and social disturbance in Sri Lanka, thousands of protesters stormed key government buildings in the capital, Colombo, including the official residence of the president, it was chaos and rage, protesters vow not to leave the building until the president and prime minister resign while occupying the Temple Trees. This protest is down to economic, political and social problem which has posed a threat to wellness of the masses, and the need to hold their president responsible, it was purely motivated on grounds of unequitable society and the need to curb mismanagement. Storming into the official government buildings will definitely take a different blow especially if the targeted person happens to be there at the material time, there is possibility of serious bodily harm while the masses will be acting with emotion.
In the Middle-East, Iraq, protesters stormed the parliament. More than nine months after Iraq held its October 2021 parliament elections, political leaders have been unable to form a government, it reaches its climax when the supporters of Shia leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, considered very influential in the country, stormed the Iraqi parliament to protest against corruption and one of the candidates running for prime minister. The protesters were urged to go home by al-Sadr after they carried his portraits and chanted slogans in his supports, as their message had been received.
All the protests come with different narratives but one thing they have in common is occupying official government buildings in a bid to convey their messages and show their grief. Their momentum is very high especially in Sri Lank and Iraq, and whether US Capitol riot of January 6th has set the precedent for the both countries but in a totally different angles, and how it is going to affect other democracies of the world. Protests could be mobilized both in negative or positive way, it could be weapon newly obtain in political tussle while the masses are drawn at the centre of it, while Sri Lanka protests posed to yield a good outcome, in Iraq yet to see the response but in US, it is totally a different scene a panel is set up for the insurrection to determine the criminal liability of the former president.
