I’m responding to a letter from a Monmouth resident who claimed your news is biased (“Where are the conservative letters?” June 17). The writer suggested violent “riots” in L.A. were OK while the Jan. 6, 2021, conservative “demonstration/protest” was a threat to our republic. I’d like to point out several differences.

Jan. 6, 2021, saw between 2,000 and 2,500 protesters break into the Capitol to block the certification of an election that the courts had deemed legitimate. This was a planned assault on the Capitol by people who believed “the Big Lie” (Fox News admitted to lying as part of its $787.5 million settlement). There were more than 100 police officers injured, 15 hospitalized and several related deaths. Some protesters were sentenced to years for seditious conspiracy.

The much larger L.A. protests were against unconstitutional acts by President Trump/ICE to remove people without due process. Many of them have lived, worked and paid taxes here for years and have committed no crimes other than being undocumented, if that. Seven officers were injured, none requiring hospitalization. No deaths. Some will be charged with assaulting officers and property destruction, but not trying to thwart legitimate democratic processes. On June 14, there were nationwide protests by between 4 and 6 million people. It could be the largest protest in U.S. history, with very little trouble.

Many, if not most, of Trump’s actions so far have been reversed or temporarily blocked by the courts as unconstitutional. So, if the Maine Trust for Local News seems to report more favorably on “liberal” protests, it may be because Jan. 6, 2021, was to thwart our democracy, while recent — much larger — protests were trying to preserve it.

Randy Howell
Woolwich