There was turmoil and disruption at the US Capitol on Wednesday as Trump-supporters attempted to halt electoral count and protested a joint session of Congress assembled to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s win. The protestors reached as far as the Senate floor. Multiple officers were injured in the chaos. Among them, a woman was shot and pronounced dead due to the riots.
She was identified as an Air Force veteran, Ashli Babbitt. They declared her as dead at an area hospital. Spokesperson Dustin Sternbeck, Metropolitan Police Department said, “Yes, the adult female that was shot inside of the Capitol was pronounced dead at an area hospital.” Through a video posted on social media, a crowd inside the capitol could be seen. Then, a gunshot was heard and the woman, wearing a Trump banner around her neck, fell to the ground. According to the Washington Post, she was later loaded into an ambulance with blood splattered around her upper body.
Former President of USA, Barack Obama condemned the violence at the US Capitol by stating, “History will rightly remember today’s violence at the Capitol, incited by a sitting president who has continued to baselessly lie about the outcome of a lawful election, as a moment of great dishonor and shame for our nation.”
The protests began because pro-Trump demonstrators believe that the elections were ‘stolen’ by President-elect Biden. Trump claimed that the recently-concluded election was ‘stolen’ and demanded their ‘voices to be heard’. According to Trump’s supporters, the Electoral College was in favour of Biden and the votes must be overturned.
In the midst of this, Facebook and Twitter have frozen Trump’s accounts. As he continued to make baseless & false claims about the US Presidential elections inciting his supporters, his accounts were locked immediately. Twitter blocked and required the removal of three of Trump’s tweets, “as a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, D.C.” Facebook tweeted that it would block Trump’s account for 24 hours due to two policy violations. Tweeter has locked Trump’s account for 12 hours and said that if the three tweets are not removed, the account would remain frozen. This means that President Trump’s Twitter handle @realDonaldTrump would be ineffective.
Ironically, Trump urged his supporters to ‘go home.’ In a one-minute video uploaded on Twitter, Trump encouraged his supporters to quit the fight and head home but at the same time, reiterating his unproven allegations that the recently-conducted elections were ‘fraudulent’ and ‘stolen’. He said, “I know you are pained, I know you are hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. That was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We’ve to have law and order. We don’t want anybody hurt.”
The mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, has imposed a curfew in the US Capitol beginning at 6 PM, 7th January 2021 but later, this was extended to be a curfew for 15 days.
Leaders all around the world expressed shock and grief towards the disintegrating nature of democracy and disgraceful scenes of violence in the USA. Boris Johnson of Britain, a loyal ally of USA since generations, tweeted, “The United States stands for democracy all around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power.”
Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau said his country was “deeply disturbed” by the happenings in the USA, Canada’s closest neighbour and ally. He tweeted, “Violence will never succeed in overruling the will of the people. Democracy in the US must be upheld – and it will be.”
President-elect Joe Biden had planned to speak on how to revive the economy and provide financial relief for smaller business post the Coronavirus pandemic recession; giving political remarks from a theatre in his native Delaware. But some time before this, the demonstrations broke out. He said, “Our democracy is under unprecedented assault unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times,” Biden added that the chaotic and violent events were “an assault on the rule of law.”
Biden’s Vice-President-elect, Kamala Harris tweeted, “I join President-elect Joe Biden in calling for the assault on the Capitol and our nation’s public servants to end, and as he said, “allow the work of democracy to go forward”. “This breach of security into the US Capitol to overturn the election results declared on 3rd November 2020 is a shock to the entire world as the USA who stands as an example of power, democracy and the ‘free world’ was filled with chaos and blatant disregard for acceptance and peace.”
Another important outcome of the riot has been, Stephanie Grisham resigning. Grisham was the chief of staff and press secretary for First Lady, Melania Trump. Grisham in a statement said that it was an “honor” to serve the country in the White House and be part of the first lady’s “mission” to aid children.
She was one of Trump’s longest-serving helps, having been part of the campaign since 2015. She served as the press secretary but never held a press briefing.
