Protesters occupy US Capitol, disrupt electoral vote count
The senate was stormed by violent supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump as it was counting the Electoral College votes. Four people were killed in the violence.
Security staff was overwhelmed and House members and Senators fled the scene as shots were fired to disperse the crowd. Police later cleared the Capitol of Trump supporters, enforced a curfew, and arrested 52 people.
The unprecedented chaos in Washington DC has been described by many as a shattering blow to the image of America. The extent of polarization of the American society was on full display on Wednesday when Trump's supporters stormed the US Capitol.
The United States is still reeling from what happened at the heart of the American democracy in the capital of the nation on Wednesday. The unprecedented chaos in Washington DC has been described by many as a shattering blow to the image of America.
The extent of polarisation of American Society was on full display on Wednesday. Supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump, encouraged by him, marched to the Capitol building as the Congress was meeting to confirm Joe Biden's election victory.
Chaotic scenes erupted as Trump's supporters clashed with security forces and stormed the Capitol building.
The ensuing violence and mayhem temporarily blocked the counting of the Electoral College votes.
Several people lost their lives both inside and outside the Congress building, Trump, whose repeated claims of a stolen election was widely condemned for inciting violence in Washington DC on Wednesday.
What led to this one has been, in terms of its most recent context, of four years of Donald Trump and Donald Trump lying to the American people about a number of things, but most recently, lying to the American people about the election, and the fact that he won in his mind.
Dr Wilmer Leon, Author and Radio Host
The storming of the Capitol Building triggered a number of r unprecedented chaos in Washington DC, less than two weeks before the outgoing president's term will be over.
Meanwhile, senior democrats are calling for Trump to be removed immediately. They want him to be forced out of office now either under the disability clause of the 25th amendment, or through impeachment.
Four years of Trump's divisive presidency seems to have fueled different divisions in American society to an unprecedented level.
The unprecedented violence in Washington DC will undoubtedly be hard for America to recover from. Soon after the storming of the Capitol building by his supporters, Trump committed to an orderly transition of power later this month, but the damage had already been done.
The bitter developments of this week seem to have hugely dented the credibility of America's democracy.
Meanwhile, Wednesday's incidents in Washington drew reactions from around the world.
Some countries went so far as to say that the chaos exposed the collapsing American political system, and that the occurences reveal that Western democracy is fragile and broken.
America has been championing this fraud that America is the, as Ronald Reagan said, the shining city on the hill and you know we we profess to be the bastion of democracy, but the best way that America seems to be able to bring democracy to other places is at the barrel of a gun. And so what I honestly believe that this has done is, it has exposed the hypocrisy of America.
Dr Wilmer Leon, Author and Radio Host
American officials have long lectured the leaders of other countries on democratic values and peaceful transfer of power from one elected president to another, Americans have been very proud of peaceful and smooth handover of government every four years, but that did not happen this time.
Some observers believe the post election chaos in the United States shows a growing lack of trust in the system in general and elections in particular. One recent opinion poll shows more than half of Republican voters believe Trump rightfully won the election. That's 10s of millions of Americans that don't trust the election result.
The incoming administration of Joe Biden will face many domestic and foreign challenges, but right now leading a divided America will probably be the toughest task facing the future president of the United States.
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