US Capitol locked down as Donald Trump supporters clash with police
Supporters of President Donald Trump climb the west wall of the the US Capitol.(AP: Jose Luis Magana)
A “mob” supporting US President Donald Trump has violently clashed with law enforcement, sending the Capitol into chaos, locking the building down and halting the vote to certify Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
Key points:
- Both chambers of Congress had been meeting to count the electoral college votes when the violence erupted
- Protesters tore down metal barricades at the bottom of the Capitol’s steps and were met by officers in riot gear
- US President Donald Trump sent a tweet urging protesters to “stay peaceful”, having earlier told a gathering the election had been stolen
Dozens of people breached security perimeters at the Capitol and representatives inside the House chamber were told to put on gas masks as tear gas was fired in the Rotunda on Wednesday (local time).
An announcement warning of an “external security threat” was played inside the Capitol as members of Congress were meeting and expected to vote to affirm Mr Biden’s victory.
Protesters used “chemical irritants” on police in order to break into the building, Washington DC police chief Robert Contee said, before making their way into the Senate chamber.
One got up on the dais and yelled: “Trump won that election”.
Congressional leaders were whisked to safety. Vice-president-elect Kamala Harris, who was attending the joint session, was also said to be safe.
As darkness began to set in, law enforcement officials worked their way toward the protesters, using percussion grenades to try to clear the area around the Capitol. Big clouds of tear gas were visible.
Police were in full riot gear. They moved down the West steps, clashing with demonstrators, before securing the building shortly before 6:00pm (local time), when a citywide curfew was due to take effect.
A woman who was shot inside the Capitol during the violent protest died, DC police confirmed, while more than a dozen arrests were made of people from out of the area.
An FBI spokesperson said two suspected explosive devices had been rendered safe.
A White House spokesperson said the National Guard was being deployed to the US Capitol, along with other federal protective services.
Trump urges ‘very special’ protesters to go home
There were also skirmishes outside the building in the very spot where Mr Biden will be inaugurated in just two weeks.
Protesters tore down metal barricades at the bottom of the Capitol’s steps and were met by officers in riot gear.
Some tried to push past the officers who held shields and officers could be seen firing pepper spray into the crowd to keep them back.
Some in the crowd were shouting “traitors” as officers tried to keep them back.
In response, Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a citywide curfew for the District of Columbia from 6:00pm on Wednesday, January 6 (local time) until 6:00am on Thursday, January 7.
Addressing the unfolding situation on Twitter, Mr Trump urged protesters to “stay peaceful”, before later issuing a video urging them to “go home”.
“I know your pain, I know your hurt, we had an election that was stolen from us,” he said, repeating baseless claims of election fraud.
“But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order, we have to respect our great people in law and order.
“We can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You’re very special.”
In a follow-up tweet, which has since been removed by Twitter, Mr Trump appeared to justify the occupation of the US Capitol, writing: “These are the things that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long”.
Twitter Safety said Mr Trump’s account had been locked for “repeated and severe violations of our civic integrity policy”.
Earlier, Mr Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani said the protesters, who he labelled “patriots”, were on “the right side of the law and history”.
The clashes came just shortly after Mr Trump addressed thousands of his supporters at a rally near the White House on Wednesday ahead of Congress vote.
“We will not let them silence your voices,” Mr Trump told the protesters, who had lined up before sunrise to get a prime position to hear the President.
“We will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved.”
Biden calls on ‘mob’ to allow ‘democracy to go forward’
In a national address, Mr Biden called those storming the Capitol “a small number of extremists dedicated to lawlessness”.
“This is not decent, it is disorder, it is chaos,” he said, urging Mr Trump to “demand an end to this siege”.
“It borders on sedition and it must end now. I call on this mob to pull back and allow the work of democracy to go forward.”
It was a sentiment echoed by Vice-President Mike Pence, who issued a series of tweets condemning the violence, which he labelled an “attack on our Capitol”.
He called for those involved to be prosecuted to the “fullest extent of the law”.
Ben Sasse, a Republican senator and frequent critic of the President, said the Capitol “was ransacked while the leader of the free world cowered behind his keyboard — tweeting against his Vice-President for fulfilling the duties of his oath to the Constitution”.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Congress would continue counting the electoral college votes once the Capitol had been “cleared for use”.
She said the decision was made in consultation with the Pentagon, the Justice Department and the Vice-President.
Also on Wednesday, pro-Trump demonstrators massed outside statehouses across the country, forcing evacuations in at least two other states.
New Mexico state police evacuated staff from a statehouse building that includes the governor’s and secretary of state’s offices as a precaution shortly after hundreds of flag-waving supporters arrived in a vehicle caravan and on horseback.
In Utah, the staff of Governor Spencer Cox were sent home as several hundred pro-Trump demonstrators rallied outside the Capitol, though the demonstration remained relatively calm.
AP/ABC
