Images showing FBI staffers taking a knee during heated protests in the nation’s capital have generated intense debate online, with some critics demanding they be fired, arguing the bureau should remain “apolitical.”
Around a dozen FBI employees were seen in a pair of photos that circulated on social media on Thursday, apparently kneeling in solidarity with those protesting police brutality in Washington, DC and countless other cities around the country.
Rich Higgins – who formerly worked in the strategic planning office of the US National Security Council – noted that some of those pictured were administrators at the bureau’s DC field office, rather than agents, citing a friend in the know after some netizens questioned the photos’ veracity.
I asked a buddy of mine and they’re admin staff (some of em).
Dubbing the images “surreal,” detractors have piled onto the FBI employees for what they saw as a politicized gesture, one even suggesting the move violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from some forms of political activity.
So these are the “courageous, hard working apolitical” rank and file?
— Nancy Pelosi has no clue what science actually is (@horseshowgrad) June 6, 2020
“Shouldn’t these Deep Staters be plotting a coup against the [government]?” another critic joked.
The condemnations were also joined by calls to discipline the employees for their nod to the protesters, who took to the streets last week after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in the custody of the Minneapolis police.
Despite Higgins’ confirmation that the images do indeed depict FBI personnel, some netizens held out skepticism, asking whether the employees were kneeling for some other reason, unrelated to the ongoing protests.
I definitely would need to see the entire scene. This could be anything, and the lack of rioters/protesters makes it questionable.
While NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick widely popularized the gesture in 2016 – kneeling during the national anthem at football games as a form of protest against police brutality – since Floyd’s killing last week, a number of officers around the country have been seen kneeling at demonstrations to signal unity with protesters.
