Republican state Senator Joe Pennacchio voted against a resolution condemning the failed coup d’etat attempted at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, but the GOP lawmaker issued a statement condemning the violence against the Hindu population in Bangladesh.
Pennacchio and Cumberland County Republican Chairman Michael Testa, Jr. were named in 2020 as honorary state chairs of Donald Trump’s New Jersey re-election campaign.
They, along with James W. Holzapfel and Michael J. Doherty, were the only four lawmakers who voted against the resolution when it passed in the New Jersey State Senate five days after the terrorist mob descended on the Capitol Building.
Senators Dawn Marie Addiego, Declan J. O’Scanlon Jr., and Christopher A. Brown were the only Republicans who supported it.
Disgraced former President Donald Trump was indicted on charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, based on his lies about balloting, submission of fake electors, inciting the mob that attacked the Capitol, and other acts of conspiracy.
“The recent reports out of Bangladesh are disheartening. Violence has no place in our diplomatic endeavors and those responsible for these heinous actions must be held accountable,” said Pennacchio, the Trump campaign’s 2020 co-chair. “I call on all peace-loving nations to join me in condemning the targeting of the Hindu community as the country deals with these turbulent times.”
Hundreds of Bangladeshi Hindus have tried unsuccessfully to flee to India this week after many homes and businesses of the minority community were vandalized following the overthrow of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Pressure on the prime minister had been mounting for weeks as anti-government protests raged around the country. Hundreds have been killed in the worst violence Bangladesh has seen since its war of independence in 1971.
On Sunday alone, at least 90 people lost their lives, mostly demonstrators shot by security forces – but also a growing number of police killed by the crowds.
Hasina resigned on Monday, August 5, 2024, as large crowds of demonstrators surrounded the prime minister’s residence and flew in a Bangladesh Air Force C-130 transport to Hindon Air Force base in Ghaziabad, India, where she is living in a secret location under tight security.
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council said that 45 out of 64 districts in the country had seen the targeting of mostly Hindu homes, businesses or temples this week. A school teacher had been killed and 45 other people hurt, it said.