Trump supporters breached the Capitol on Wednesday as Congress was meeting to certify the Electoral College results for President-elect Joe Biden.
There was confusion in the House chamber as the Capitol doors were locked and the debate over the electoral count was suspended. Fox News reported at 3:38 PM that one person had been shot but it was unclear who was shot or where it happened. At that time there were streams of people leaving the Capitol area voluntarily and peacefully, waving flags and chanting.
At 3:47 PM, President Trump announced that he would not tolerate the situation at the Capitol and was sending out the National Guard to handle the demonstration.
NBC News reported just prior to that that one person has been hospitalized and five officers were also hospitalized after suffering from pepper spray in their faces.
CNN reports that Vice President Mike Pence has been evacuated from the building, whereas lawmakers were told they may need to duck under their chairs, as protestors were seen in the rotunda of the US Capitol.
Donald Trump has broken his silence and tweeted for demonstrators to “support Capitol Police and Law Enforcement”.
“They are truly on the side of our country,” he wrote. “Stay peaceful!”
US media showed tear gas being deployed inside the Capitol building as a growing number of demonstrators continue to enter it. Clearly Capitol police were completely overwhelmed by the number of protesters, who swarmed past them into the building.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has ordered a citywide curfew beginning at 6:00 PM EST.
Earlier, a “Save America March” was taking place against the Presidential election results, the validity of which U.S. President Donald Trump continues to dispute. In a Facebook post earlier in the day he had mentioned the fact that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had ruled just before the election that election officials did not have to check the signatures on mail-in ballots, and they were allowed to accept ballots that arrived at voting places after Election Day.
