United States: Capitol attack reopens debate on protection
The American elected officials are considering a reinforcement of the police force around the Capitol.
AP - Alex Brandon
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Almost three months after the deadly assault on Congress, the Capitol was the scene of a new attack on Friday April 2.
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With our correspondent in Washington,
Anne Corpet
The flags of Congress and the White House are at half mast after
the Capitol attack
that killed a police officer.
Its author, a 25-year-old African-American, struck two members of the police force with his car before being shot dead.
His motivations are still unknown.
The attack, however, revives the debate on the measures taken to protect the temple of American democracy.
The two-meter-high steel grid that surrounded Congress over a wide area since
the Jan.6 assault
was removed last weekend.
Its implementation was contested by a number of elected officials who want the building to remain a place accessible to the public.
Three senators even tabled a bill that seeks to ban federal funding for a perimeter wall around the site.
Elected officials are now considering the implementation of a new retractable grid.
The 2,000 members of the National Guard deployed around Congress who were to leave the federal capital at the end of May may well extend their stay.
There is also talk of strengthening the police force.
In early March, a security review of the Capitol found the complex to be extremely vulnerable, not least because the building's police unit was "
understaffed, under-equipped and under-trained
."
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