Three years later, these dying people are still holding a night vigil for arrested protesters on January 6

They call it “Liberty Corner.”

Every night at 7 pm ET, supporters of the riots that stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, they turned a small sidewalk near the DC Central Detention Facility in Washington into a vigil.

They put up placards with pictures of five people who died during or after the attempted coup, including Ashley Babbitt, a 35-year-old California woman who was shot and killed by a capitol police officer as she climbed through a broken door into the house. The Speaker’s Entrance is outside the House of Commons.

The vigil began the first day “J6er,” as they are called, was arrested, and has been kept for 780 days straight. That’s about three years.

One of those J6ers, Brandon Fellows, 30, was released from prison in May. He says it was good to see his support while he was incarcerated.

Fellows, of Schenectady, NY, was convicted of three counts of disorderly conduct, and obstructing the prosecution, a felony.

He broke into the Capitol through a broken window, then smoked a joint in a congressman’s office. He did an interview with CNN when he came out and gave his real name. That’s how he was caught.

Fellows was sentenced to 37 months in prison and five more for contempt of court for calling the trial a “kangaroo court.” However, he does not regret his involvement in Jan. 6.

“I just knew I wasn’t going to miss it. And I’m so glad I didn’t,” he said.

In the early days, hundreds used to show up for this vigil, now only a handful of diehards show up.

Sherri Hefner, a retired Army medic, isn’t related to any of the jailed J6ers but says she feels it’s her duty to support them — most of them, she says, are “highly decorated military veterans.”

Hefner, 58, says he attended this vigil almost every day he attended.

“It is my vow not to leave them behind, to be a voice for them,” he said.

Rebecca Zhang, 60, also feels a connection to the J6ers. He walks two hours almost every day to attend the vigil. She says her husband was part of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 in China.

“He was persecuted in China. That’s why we moved there [the] US,” said Zhang, who says he did not want his children to grow up in a communist country.

As of Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,500 people have been charged with participating in the coup attempt.

About one-third of those charged with assault or obstructing the police.

‘Hell is determined to kill us’

Michael Fanone was one of more than 140 police officers beaten that day. He worked in the narcotics unit of the DC police. When he heard that the police were under attack, he says he and his colleagues threw away their uniforms and rushed to Capitol Hill.

““There were hundreds of police officers in DC who committed to sending them in, responding to calls from the Capitol,” Fanone said.

When he got there, he found that the barriers had been torn down by supporters of Donald Trump who were determined to get inside the Capitol building, to prevent Congress from confirming Joe Biden’s victory as president. He joined a number of injured police officers who were still holding the line.

“These guys were determined to kill us, they escaped and attacked members of Congress and their staff who were hiding inside the Capitol,” said Fanone.

An angry mob beat him unconscious, and it was all captured on his body camera. Fanone became a police officer after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and says he is tired of seeing the country he loves turned into a battlefield by politicians like Trump, who is seeking re-election.

“I was a police officer for 20 years. I dealt with people in the worst situation all the time for more than twenty years. It amazes me how people in this country behave badly and are willing to exploit other people in order to further their careers,” said Fanone.

For the first time in history, Congress’ next certificate of the electoral college vote has been designated a Special National Security Event – a label usually reserved for events such as the State of the Union and presidential inaugurations.

It means that the US Secret Service will manage security in Jan. 6, 2025, instead of the Capitol Police.

“National Security Special Events are the most important events in the country,” said Eric Ranaghan, special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Dignitary Protective Division.

He said the Secret Service will work with federal, state and local partners to ensure the event and participants are safe and secure.

Fellows, a former jailed J6er, says that if Trump does not win the election this year, he will be ready to attack the Capitol again.

“I do not wish for violence, but I think that is the time when it is necessary.,” Bafo said.

He says that although hundreds of people died in the American Civil War, many good things came out of it, such as the abolition of slavery.

“We have a united country,” said Bafo.

He wants to see that again.

“I don’t mind the change that’s happening,” Fellows said.

That is what the US security services are determined to prevent.