(The Center Square) – Supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol Building Wednesday afternoon, interrupting the congressional session that was meeting to confirm the Electoral College votes.
Hundreds of protesters were shown on television news coverage walking through Statuary Hall without having gone through any security checkpoints. Debate was halted, and lawmakers were ordered to return to their offices and shelter in place. Legislators were told they may need to hide under their chairs and to be quiet and not draw attention to themselves.
Protesters are fighting with Capitol Police and Secret Service within the capitol building. pic.twitter.com/NiJq8huKl2
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 6, 2021
Vice President Mike Pence and some lawmakers were evacuated from the building, and media reports indicated that there was an armed standoff between law enforcement officials and protesters. Photos and video from inside the House chamber showed police with guns drawn.
“My staff and I are sheltering in place,” said U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., on Twitter. “We are safe and will be following the guidance of Capitol Police.”
CNN aired an image that appeared to show a protester sitting in the chair from which Pence had been presiding over the Senate session, and similar images were circulating on social media.
Video from the inside of the chamber. Guns drawn. pic.twitter.com/yKaICDBdj7
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 6, 2021
The protesters appeared to have come from a rally earlier in the day in which Trump condemned, as he has repeatedly since November, the results of the Nov. 3 election that made former Vice President Joe Biden the president-elect.
Capitol Police put out calls to several other agencies to provide assistance after getting overrun, and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser has put in place a 6 p.m. curfew and asked for the Washington, D.C., National Guard to be called up; a Washington Post reporter said that the Defense Department rejected the request for troops to be deployed.
Rioters have surged onto the US Senate floor. pic.twitter.com/VAibib2Mbz
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 6, 2021
Trump didn’t directly address the actions of the protesters but he did ask them to avoid violence, tweeting “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”
The sight of massive crowds halting the democratic process in the nation’s capital city was jarring to observers, some of whom laid the blame for the crowd’s actions at the president’s feet.
“This is a coup attempt,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. Then, addressing Trump, he wrote, “You are not protecting the country. Where is the DC guard? You are done and your legacy will be a disaster.”
Here’s the scary moment when protesters initially got into the building from the first floor and made their way outside Senate chamber. pic.twitter.com/CfVIBsgywK
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) January 6, 2021
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, one of the architects of an effort to object to the certification of Biden’s victory, urged the protesters not to turn to violence.
“Violence is always unacceptable,” he tweeted. “Even when passions run high. Anyone engaged in violence – especially against law enforcement – should be fully prosecuted.”
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This was article written by Delphine Luneau, regional editor of The Center Square, and Ted O’Neil, a contributor to The Center Square.
