Current affairs

'The President incited the mob': Trump comes under fire for playing behind the riots at US Capitol!

By alagu, 07 January, 2021
United States, Donald Trump, US Elections, Joe Biden

For the first time in its history, the towering US Capitol Hill had witnessed large scale riots and mayhem that were instigated not by any militants but by President Trump himself to somehow cause mess and disturbances around the prestigious chambers of the US Congress to stop the process of certifying Joe Biden as the next President of the United States. 

The unprecedented and disturbing scenes were unfolded by the Trump supporters on Wednesday evening before the US Capitol Hill and hundreds of supporters who traded their loyalty to the fictitious claims of the President had rioted the Congress building and damaged the premises. The floors of Congress that had the history of carrying the lawmakers and the footsteps of the Presidents had on Wednesday carried rioters and the visuals from the inside the building had shown the mob breaking the doors and windows of the chambers, as a mark to relish their favorite autocratic leader. 

Republican President Donald Trump, who lost the elections, had called his supporters multiple times publicly to come to Washington for a rally on Wednesday, the day when both the chambers of the US Congress were scheduled to certify the results of the Electoral College. In his address from the White House, Trump said, "We are going to walk down to the Capitol and we are going to cheer on our brave senators, congressmen, and women". The President further stimulated his supporters to 'fight'. 

He said, "We will never give up, we will never concede". He called his supporters to march towards Washington and following his call, thousands of his supporters gathered before the Capitol Hill on Wednesday when the chambers prepared to certify Biden's victory. When the chambers advanced to certify Biden's victory, the supporters were advanced to block the certification. With entry prohibited, the rioters broke the glasses, windows, and doors to enter Capitol Hill. 

The visuals from Capitol Hill had shocked the world on its fashion of how they got unfolded. According to Reuters, four people have died in the riots that stormed around Congress while the Metropolitan Police Department has arrested 52 people on Wednesday with connection to the riots. Police Department Chief Robert Contee said that 47 of these 52 arrests were related to violations of Mayor Muriel Bowser's order of curfew, with 26 of those involving people arrested on the US Capitol grounds. 

The police department said that several others were arrested on charges related to carrying unlicensed or prohibited firearms. Chief Contee further said that two pipe bombs were recovered from the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic National Committees. These four casualties include a woman who was shot and killed by the Capitol Police Officer and three others were died on Wednesday because of medical emergencies. 

The clashes between the police and rioters erupt after the latter had defied the orders and began their operation of vandalizing the Congress building in their bid to stop the chambers certifying Joe Biden as the next President. Following the riots, both the House and Senate chambers and the entire Capitol Hill were brought under a complete lockdown. Vice President Mike Pence and all the lawmakers were evacuated to safe locations. 

In the first of its kind event, Capitol Hill came under attack by the Americans and the riots lasted for nearly four hours, which led to the deployment of heavily armed police personnel to counter and disperse the riots from causing chaos for the constitutional process.  The rioters began leaving the grounds after they were removed by the police personnel and enforcement of curfew, which was imposed by Washington Mayor Bowser to contain the march called by the outgoing President. 

The unprecedented development has attracted global attention as the riots were unfolded at the high time when Donald Trump lost his majority in the US Senate after the crucial Georgia Senate races had favored the Democrats. The footages from Capitol Hill had shocked the Americal lawmakers and global leaders who had expressed their deep concern over the anarchies amid the transition of power. According to CNN, the riots had killed four and injured many as the result of the intensified clashes between the forces. 

As the storm from the Trump supporters was contained, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had written to the colleagues and said that the leaders of Congress have decided to resume the joint session once the Capitol is cleared for use. The visuals from the chambers shown that the rioters had entered the halls and many of them were seen carrying the banner of 'Trump 2020'. The four hours of unrest had largely disturbed the democratic principles, as the world's oldest democracy had set a bad precedent under the presidency of Trump.

When his supporters were vandalizing Capitol Hill, President Trump took to Twitter and called his supporters to abide by the law and go back home. Releasing a video message on Twitter, Trump said, "This was a fraudulent election, but we can't play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home". However, Twitter has removed his video and some of his tweets under the grounds of disrupting the election results and defending his supporters. Twitter also suspended his account for 12 hours for the first time and warned that he could be removed permanently. 

Reuters said that after hours of chaos, lawmakers returned to Congress to begin certifying Democratic President-elect Joe Biden's victory. Trump had drawn massive flak from the fellow Republicans over his drama of blocking the constitutional process. House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney took to Twitter and said, "There is no question that the President formed the mob, the President incited the mob, the President addressed the mob. He lit the flame". Republican Senator Tom Cotton, a close ally of Trump, called on Trump to accept his election loss. 

Trump is left with limited support for his allegations from the Congress as senior Republican senators had voiced against Trump's claims and bid to overturn the election. Republican Senator from Utah Mitt Romney had rejected an effort by his fellow Republicans to object to election results. Senior Senator from South Carolina Lindsey Graham, one of Trump's allies in Congress, took a stand against backing Trump and his claims. While speaking in the Senate on its session of certifying Biden's victory, Graham said, "All I can say is count me out. Enough is Enough. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are lawfully elected and will become the President and the Vice-President of the United States on January 20". 

 

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