I don't know, but the way they casually let them in doesn't look like they're retreating from the position. If they were, why open the barriers? Why wouldn't they just back up from the position to their fallback position as one group?
Gas, less-lethal bullets, flashbangs. The stuff I've been seeing a few blocks away for most of the summer. All of those things are really good at dispersing crowds.
1:100 doesn’t make escalation a wise decision
Gas, flashbangs, and guns were used at the Capital on the 6th.
That's the most upsetting thing about this situation, in my opinion. Police in DC haven't had issues deploying such tactics in the past. Why was this different?
The instances you are referring to from the past were from police units that were fully prepared for riot combat. From what they were wearing and what weapons they were carrrying. They were also fully briefed on being placed into a riot situation. For the Capitol Police, it was just another Wednesday. There was no advanced prep for them to outfitted with riot gear/weapons. This is why it is so important to investigate the decision making process by leadership on why it was not something more than just another Wednesday.
Plenty of gas was used, and so were other less lethal weapons.