United States President, Joe Biden has signed a bill to award Congressional Gold Medals to responders of the January 6 Capitol Riot.
Gatekeepers News reports that Biden signed the legislation on Thursday to offer “profound gratitude” to law enforcement officers for their service.
The U.S President commended the officers for saving the lives of members of Congress during those “tragic hours” of the attack seven months ago.
The medal is the highest honour Congress can bestow.
During the formal signing ceremony at the White House Rose Garden, Biden and Vice President Kamala were joined by members of Congress, law enforcement officers and the families of police who died following the attack.
Gatekeepers News reports that many officers were brutally beaten and injured on January 6 as the violent mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters pushed past them to break into the Capitol and interrupt the certification of Biden’s victory.
Many of the insurrectionists repeated Trump’s false claims about widespread election fraud as they hunted for lawmakers and tried to beat down the doors of the House chamber with lawmakers inside.
Four people were confirmed dead on the day of the violence.
A Capitol Police officer who had been attacked by the mob died the following day while over 100 police officers were injured. Four of the officers have also committed suicide after the incident.
Last week, four police officers narrated to a House of Representatives special committee, how they were beaten, threatened, taunted with racial insults, adding that they thought they might die when they were struggled to defend the Capitol against the mob.
On Thursday, Biden said: “My fellow Americans, let’s remember what this was all about.
“It was a violent attempt to overturn the will of the American people, to seek power at all costs, to replace the ballot with brute force. To destroy, not to build. Without democracy, nothing is possible. With it, everything is.”
The bill was unanimously passed by the Senate earlier this week.
The new law will place the medals in four locations — Capitol Police headquarters, the Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Capitol and the Smithsonian Institution.
Biden said the medals will be at the Smithsonian “so all visitors can understand what happened that day.”
