With the outcome of the 2020 presidential election all but decided and a transition in power taking place in the coming weeks, Trump supporters swarmed the U.S. Capitol building in an angry, hideous siege.

“Yesterday was a sad day for Americans. What took place in our nation’s capital is a shame,” sophomore Nicole Perez said. “Over the summer, Black Lives Matter protesters were attacked by officers with tear gas, and yesterday I watched officers take selfies with members of the mob and mock the death of George Floyd.”

This “Save America March” from radical supporters of President Trump has been planned for weeks and was nothing short of terrorism. Mobs swarmed the Capitol building where they then broke windows, assaulted an underprepared police staff and took control of the building, marking the first time that the U.S. Capitol building has been breached since the War of 1812, over 200 years ago.

The Senate was meeting to make a final tally of the electoral votes in the 2020 election, however when protestors breached the Capitol building and then the Senate floor, the meeting was recessed.

Several lawmakers were evacuated from the building and others were trapped inside on lockdown, before Secret Service and Capitol police were able to clear the building hours later. Tallying was resumed and finished last night afterward.

President Trump spoke early at the D.C. protests saying that he would march with his supporters and “never concede.” These comments from Trump encouraged his supporters and pushed them further over the edge, inciting the chaos to follow.

Protestors broke into the offices of representatives and left threatening notes, swung Confederate and Trump flags all throughout the building. A woman was also shot and killed during the attack.

“Violence is no part of what it means to be a member of our community. As educators, our charge is to ensure that we provide a safe, supportive and welcoming environment that encourages critical thinking and inquiry,” AHS Principal Shawn DeRose said in an email to the staff, following the incident.

The march was organized to protest the “fraudulent” election that Trump and his supporters believe took place. However, there is still no substantial evidence to support this claim.

“You may not always get the decision that you want, but we must continue to trust in our democratically created processes or else our democracy will crumble,” Government teacher Matthew O’Neill said.

Throughout Black Lives Matter protests throughout the latter half of 2020, the National Guard was deployed throughout the country and police officers were scattered across every city block in preparation for potential violence. However, that was not the case for the march from MAGA supporters.

“If I had to describe the people who marched and swarmed the Capitol yesterday, I would simply call them terrorists,” sophomore Kaleia Cook said. “They were violent thugs with a twisted corrupt belief that sparked terror and fear into the people of our Nation.”

Regardless of personal or political belief, we all have the ability to recognize what’s objectively right or wrong. What took place in the Capitol yesterday was not only wrong but evil, and this behavior has no place in our country.