Rioters climb the United States Capitol, marching with Confederate flags and riot gear.
The legislature scurries off the floor of the Senate and crouches for security reasons.
Capitol police officers standing near a barricaded door, guns drawn, guarding the chamber of the house.
These are some of the most breathtaking images from a historic day when a crowd of people loyal to President Trump broke into the Capitol to prevent lawmakers from confirming the electoral college count to the president-elect’s victory Joseph R. Biden Jr. to confirm.
The chaos, which lasted more than three hours and was seen all over the world, was another reminder of the challenges Mr Biden will inherit in two weeks’ time: an extraordinarily divided country, the political fabric of which has been affected by an economic crisis, a deadly pandemic and Frayed four years of Mr. Trump’s fire reign.
Insurgents acting on behalf of the President destroyed the office of Spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, broke windows, looted art and briefly took control of the Senate Chamber, where they took turns with their fists on the podium, on which Vice President Mike Pence a few minutes earlier Presided, posed for photos. They erected a gallows in front of the building, pierced the tires of a police SUV and left a note on the windshield that read “PELOSI IS SATAN”.
“This is what the president caused today, this riot,” said Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, when he and other senators were taken to a safe location.
It required the reinforcement of other law enforcement agencies, including the city’s Metropolitan Police Department, to restore order. At least 52 people were arrested, including five on gun charges and at least 26 on the US Capitol grounds, according to Chief Robert J. Contee III of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Pipe bombs were found at the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic National Committees, and a cooler with a long gun and Molotov cocktails was discovered on the Capitol grounds, the chief said.
The mob swarmed past the police and barriers with relative ease, with some chemical agents spraying officers. The Capitol Police seemed outnumbered and unprepared for the attack, despite being openly organized on social media sites such as Gab and Parler.
The police response has been criticized by law enforcement experts and members of Congress. Activists who took part in demonstrations against racial injustice that summer condemned what they viewed as double standards. Many indicated that they had been hit with rubber bullets, mistreated, surrounded and arrested while they were peaceful.
The Capitol was liberated by pro-Trump extremists on Wednesday evening, and Congress confirmed Mr Biden’s victory early Thursday morning.
In a statement shortly before 4 a.m. on Thursday, the president finally confirmed his loss and said: “Even if I disagree with the election result and the facts confirm me, there will still be an orderly transition on January 20th.”
Even before losing the November 3rd election, Mr Trump warned his supporters that the election would be rigged against him and encouraged them to physically prevent it.
On Wednesday, as thousands of his supporters gathered in Washington, Mr. Trump told them at a rally near the White House to “go down to the Capitol” and say, “You will never retake our country with weakness.”
That afternoon, Republican lawmakers loyal to Mr Trump attempted to dismiss the presidential election results by falsely saying the election was stolen, an allegation that was rejected by every court that examined the evidence.
Shortly after 2 p.m., the gathering turned violent and chaotic when Trump supporters flooded the Capitol and broke through metal gates that had been placed around the building. Then they climbed the outside of the Capitol and broke through the front doors.
The transition of the president
Updated
Jan. 7, 2021, 1:18 p.m. ET
Some wore military-style helmets and protective vests. Many took selfies as they broke into the home of American democracy and proudly shared the pictures on social media.
Some waved banners announcing their loyalty as they entered the Capitol, including giant yellow “Don’t step on me” flags popular with libertarians and limited government supporters. Others marched through the halls waving American flags covered in pro-Trump messages (technically a violation of the way the government says the American flag should be treated). Several people waved the Confederacy flag.
Legislators from both parties denounced the break-in as they crouched for security reasons.
For a time, senators and members of the House were locked in their respective chambers. Security officials there instructed members to reach under their seats and put on gas masks after tear gas was used in the Capitol rotunda.
While they were in hiding, some lawmakers asked Mr Trump to tell his supporters to back off.
Representative Steve Cohen, Democrat of Tennessee, shouted to Republicans on the floor of the house, “Call Trump, tell him to cancel his revolutionary watch.”
Guns were drawn as members of the mob attempted to break into the Chamber of the House where just moments before lawmakers went through the normally uneventful task of certifying the presidential election winner.
A woman was fatally shot by a police officer in the Capitol, Chief Contee said Wednesday night. Another woman and two men died near the Capitol after “apparently suffering from separate medical emergencies,” he said.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a curfew for the city starting at 6 p.m. Chief Contee said, “It was clear that the crowd intended to harm our officials by adding chemical irritants to the police in order to force entry into the United States Capitol.”
Wednesday’s chaos was not spontaneous, but came after months of efforts to delegitimize the elections and a year-long crusade by Mr Trump to undermine any opposition.
Calls for violence against lawmakers and talk of taking over the Capitol have been circulating online for months.
The organization for this takeover attempt took place on social media sites like Gab and Parler, platforms whose unwillingness to limit fake news or threatening news popularized them among far-right and supporters of Mr. Trump.
Participants exchanged messages on these websites about which streets to use to avoid the police and which tools to bring with them to make opening doors easier.
As images of lawmakers scrambling for safety circulated around the world, Trump’s aides urged him to call for an end to the violence. Mr Trump issued a tweet shortly after 3 p.m. that appeared to have no effect.
Mr Biden appeared at a press conference calling on Mr Trump to go on national television, condemn the chaos and urge the people of the Capitol to withdraw immediately.
At 4:17 pm, Mr. Trump posted a minute-long video on Twitter falsely claiming the election had been “stolen” and telling the people who stormed into the Capitol to leave peacefully. “We love you,” he said. “You are something special.”
Twitter immediately flagged the video for misleading content and “risk of violence”.
It took the police more than three hours to regain control of the Capitol. They used combat equipment, batons and shields to push the invaders back.
When the legislature went into hiding for security reasons and the police tried to gain control, rioters roamed the halls.
They eventually broke into the Senate Chamber. Some cheerfully posed for pictures in the seats and offices of the lawmakers they had just evicted.
The office of Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat who has led political opposition to Mr Trump’s agenda as spokeswoman for the House of Representatives, was also broken into.
The rioters who said they were trying to protect democracy were sometimes happy about their ability to move freely around the Capitol.
At around 5:40 p.m., Capitol security officials announced that the building was safe. Twenty minutes later, the city’s curfew went into effect.
Police confiscated five weapons and arrested at least 13 people during the violent protest, Chief Contee said.
Marie Fazio contributed to the reporting.
