Belfast cameraman in US Trump riot ‘defused flagpole attack’

Mark Davey captured some of the most dramatic footage of pro-Trump protestors flooding into the US Capitol, and told the News Letter it was reminiscent of some scenes of disorder in his own native Province.

Mr Davey, who is 55 and is a seasoned journalist who has worked widely across the globe, filmed the images which accompanied an ITV report narrated by Washington correspondent Robert Moore.

As of 2pm on Friday, the seven minute ITV report of the incident, containing Mr Davey’s footage, had been viewed online over 10 million times on Twitter.

Mr Moore began his broadcast by saying: “For four years we have witnessed turmoil in America. But nothing quite like this.”

The footage which followed saw protestors occupying a stage and chanting “USA, USA!”.

They then proceeded to push back police lines up the steps to the Capitol building, as police fired tear gas and tried to beat back the throng.

The footage then shows them surging into the building through windows and doors into Statuary Hall - a giant atrium outside the main congressional chamber, containing statues of bygone US leaders - before breaking into house speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.

Mr Davey, formerly based in Belfast, had worked in Beijing before moving to the US three years ago.

He told the News Letter the scenes had “echoes of the City Hall and ‘Ulster Says No’ - lots of nostalgia”.

“Obviously it’s reminiscent of that, with slightly greater significance being that this is the place people see as the seat of what they think is the top democracy in the world, and they weren’t able to keep the mob from their doors - it’s extraordinary,” he said.

“Their defences weren’t elaborate enough. They’d built an enormous stage for the inauguration and so they were able to climb up through the scaffolding of that, up the stairs, and then break through a temporary sort of work-site door.

“We followed them through that. Then they were on the grounds of the capitol.

“We just rolled along with it. These people have got a lot of anger, which sometimes they direct towards us.

“We try and reassure them we’re not part of the US media which they have a peculiar loathing for.

“I’ve seen that change over the years here, people used to have a lot of respect for the media... but now they’ve been whipped up to have it in for certain channels in particular.”

He said: “We were threatened – but I didn’t feel under threat.

“A guy came at me with a ceremonial flagpole, which was quite dramatic.

“I didn’t move. I think this threw him a bit. I just said: ‘What’s the matter? What’s wrong?’

“It kind of stopped him in his tracks. ‘What is troubling you?’ Because he seemed very agitated.”

The disorder is perhaps the most significant seen this year in the USA, given the pre-eminence of the venue targeted.

But it comes against a backdrop of months of street disorder – some of it also spilling over into violence, including arson and fatal shootings – almost unbroken since George Floyd’s death in May.

The epicentre of that unrest has been Portland, Oregon, involving crowds with links to left-wing causes like Antifa and BLM.

Similar BLM/Antifa unrest has also flared in other, bigger cities, at times involving opponents like the right-wing Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer.

Asked to about the mood of the country at the moment, and about the strong feelings at both ends of the political spectrum, Mr Davey said: “It’s just extraordinarily divided. 80% of republicans don’t believe Trump lost the election.

“So everyone is living in these siloed information bubbles, that are actually true information-free zones.

“They’re just hearing stuff in their own echo chambers.

“I don’t see any sign of that improving...

“There’s certainly a lot of weird conspiracy theories and stuff do the rounds on the far left.

“I think the difference is the far left in that sense is a lot tinier percentage.

“Whereas what I see is the difference on the right is that a lot of these ideas have become mainstream.

“QAnon conspiracy theories are just accepted now.

“There’s just a lot more acceptance on the right... they’ve done a better job online at developing channels that encourage and promote this kind of stuff.

“There’s definitely misinformation on both sides. But it seems to be of a different magnitude on the right.”

READ MORE FROM THIS REPORTER:

Click here: Trump’s NI envoy quits after Washington DC disorder... describing his job as ‘part time’ and ‘nothing’

Click here: Tributes to RUC man Sean Hughes who was left in wheelchair by bullet to head

Click here: Over £44,000 of NI Screen money helped fund Martin McGuinness ‘fighter’ documentary

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