支持总统的集会唐纳德·特朗普周三,成千上万的与会者冲进了美国国会大厦大楼,导致了死亡。
美国首都前所未有的混乱始于周三中午在白宫附近的椭圆公园举行的“拯救美国”集会,特朗普在那里煽动他的支持者游行到国会山,国会正在那里开会认证乔·拜登作为美国第46任总统。
联邦执法车辆冲向国会大厦,试图击败那里的暴徒。很快,在突破路障和安全检查站后,抗议者进入了大楼,迫使立法者进入封锁状态。
愤怒的暴徒成员挨家挨户挥舞着邦联旗帜,抢劫参议员和众议员的办公室,并重复总统自11月以来散布的虚假言论——特朗普是选举的真正赢家。
当催泪瓦斯释放到圆形大厅时,议员们被迫从座位下取回防毒面具。
在众议院会议厅外的楼梯间,一名妇女在警察和抗议者的对峙中被枪杀。这名妇女名叫阿什丽·巴比特,是这场混乱中死亡的四个人之一。
当会议记录变成数小时的暴力时,政客们呼吁特朗普指示他的支持者离开国会大厦。在一段后来被删除的推特视频中,特朗普告诉他们回家,但重复说选举是从他那里“偷来的”,并说他“爱”抗议者。
在华盛顿特区市长穆里尔·布瑟下令下午6点宵禁开始前几分钟,人们仍留在国会大厦。
参议员们于晚上8点返回会场确认选举人票,但直到凌晨1点30分左右,也就是狂热开始近12小时后,这座建筑才被视为已被清除。
A visual timeline on how the attack on Capitol Hill unfolded
A rally in support of PresidentDonald Trumpturned deadly when thousands of of attendees stormed the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday.
The unprecedented chaos in the nation's capital began midday Wednesday at a "Save America" rally at the Ellipse, a park near the White House, where Trump incited his supporters to march to Capitol Hill, where Congress was meeting to certifyJoe Bidenas the 46th president of the United States.
Federal law enforcement vehicles raced to the Capitol in an effort to beat the mob there. Soon, after breaching through barricades and security checkpoints, the protesters were inside the building -- forcing lawmakers to go into lockdown.
Members of the angry mob went door to door waving Confederate flags, looting the offices of senators and congressmen and repeating the false rhetoric that the president has spread since November -- that Trump was the real winner of the election.
Lawmakers were forced to retrieve gas masks from under their seats as tear gas was released into the rotunda.
A woman was shot amid a standoff between police and protesters in a stairwell outside the House chamber. The woman, Ashli Babbitt, was one of four people who died as a result of the mayhem.
As the minutes turned to hours of violence, politicians called on Trump to instruct his supporters to leave the Capitol. In a Twitter video that was later removed, Trump told them to go home, but repeated that the election was "stolen" from him and said he "loved" the protesters.
People still remained in the Capitol minutes before the 6 p.m. curfew ordered by Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser began.
Senators returned to the session at 8 p.m. to confirm electoral votes, but the building was not deemed cleared until about 1:30 a.m., nearly 12 hours after the frenzy began.