events in washington have taken a
violent and tumultuous turn in the past
few hours
as thousands of supporters of president
trump stormed the u.s capitol building
venting their anger at the victory of
joe biden in the presidential election
they forced the evacuation and lockdown
of congress itself
where lawmakers were all set to approve
the election result
shortly before the clashes president
trump had addressed his supporters
near the white house telling them that
he would never accept defeat within the
past hour
president-elect biden called on mr trump
to tell his people to go home
and within minutes that was indeed the
message delivered
from the white house we'll be live on
capitol hill shortly first we'll have
this report by our north america editor
john sopple
the peaceful transfer of power the
cornerstone of american democracy
seemed a highly abstract concept today
as trump supporters clashed with police
as they tried
and succeeded to storm the congress
where america's elected leaders
had gathered to certify the election
victory of joe biden
[Music]
earlier in a rally outside the white
house donald trump encouraged his loyal
base
to fight to overturn the result of this
bitterly contested election
we're going to walk down to the capitol
and we're going to cheer on our brave
senators and congressmen and women
and we're probably not going to be
cheering so much for
some of them because you'll never
take back our country with weakness you
have to show strength and you have to be
strong
many of his supporters needing little
encouragement to join the fight
we're here to support you know if
violence happens like it happens but
we're not going to start it you know
we're just like here to defend ourselves
with blood
yeah so i say that again a mexican
immigrant i support trump
freedom is paid for with blood and
tyranny always masquerades itself as
safety and security and that's what
we're fighting against right now
outside the capitol the outer ring of
security had been breached
the crowds had taken donald trump at his
word and they were taking the fight
to the heart of american democracy
they were literally banging on the doors
of congress
and then some trump supporters managed
to get inside
they were armed and wandering the
capitol building
there were tense and violent scenes with
police who have never dealt with
anything like this
[Applause]
these pictures appear to show a woman
protester being shot inside the capitol
building
a stretcher was sent in she was later
given cpr
a protester breached the inner sanctum
of the chamber
the vice president had to be removed to
safety by his secret service detail
and then the joint session was adjourned
earlier the republican senate leader for
so long a loyal lieutenant of the
president
turned on him with this withering
assessment this election were overturned
by mere allegations from the losing side
our democracy would enter a death spiral
we'd never see the whole nation except
an election again
every four years would be a scramble for
power
at any cost and the vice president who's
officiating over this joint session
and has shown donald trump near slavish
loyalty
also said it was not his role to
overturn the verdict of the people
my oath to support and defend the
constitution constrains me from claiming
unilateral authority
to decide which electoral votes should
be counted
and he went on the presidency belongs to
the people
and to them alone and the
president-elect has gone on television
to warn that american democracy
is under unprecedented assault and he
made this appeal
i call on president trump
to go on national television now
to fulfill his oath and defend the
constitution
and demand and then to this siege
to storm the capital to smash windows
to occupy offices the floor of the
united states senate
rummaging through desks on the capitol
on the
house of representatives threatening the
safety of dually elected officials it's
not
protest it's insurrection
donald trump has spoken he called on his
supporters to stand down
but condemnation there was none this was
a fraudulent
election but we can't play into the
hands of these people
we have to have peace so go home
we love you you're very special
the chamber has emptied democracy put on
hold
outside they were scaling the ramparts
the mob for the moment in charge
believing they have the right to
overthrow the will of the people
tonight the shining city on the hill as
america likes to describe itself
feels as though the light of democracy
is flickering dangerously
john sopel bbc news washington
john's report there will be talking to
him in a short while but these are the
images now
in washington dc tonight the president's
message
has been delivered he's told people to
go home some people have
but as we can see there are plenty of
people still around
uh the capitol hill uh still wanting to
make their protests heard
still wanting to urge members of
congress not to ratify
the election result that's despite by
the way republican leaders on capitol
hill saying that this protest is wrong
so those are the live images
what i'd like to do now is bring in two
colleagues one of them
who's outside capitol hill there ali
macboolen one inside
who's le bo diseco will come to level in
a second
but alim first of all could you bring us
up to date what's happening there
and have the police drafted in more help
by now
well there was a lull for an hour or so
there were hundreds of protesters
all the way up the steps of the building
on every side right up to the doors of
the capital
as i say there was a lull just as you
were watching that report
in the last few minutes the police
finally started to use
sound bombs and some form of tear gas
and
you might be able to make out that
they've cleared one level
of the steps outside the capitol
building still
lots of people still here i was trying
to get a sense
through speaking to several of the
people who stormed the building
earlier whether this was something that
was planned and actually
they said they were inspired by the
words of the president who spoke earlier
in the day to take back their country
and so they marched down here but they
saw that there was so little security
they said
they felt it was easy to overwhelm that
security and they found themselves
inside the building they started
knocking on doors
they entered into the chamber but they
said it hadn't been the plan
but they said they will continue to make
their presence felt until
the election result they say is
overturned
in a bid to do what the man they follow
is telling them to do
which is to take back their country this
is what they translate that to be
thank you very much and still the action
ongoing as alien was
telling us then we're still hearing it
in the background let's go inside the
building
and uh lebo is there for us um you've
been there all the while live and i'm
just
wondering what you made of the scenes we
saw earlier on
and what's going on there right now i
can see that you've gone to a quieter
area for the moment but what's going on
well hugh we've been on lockdown here in
these capitol buildings for almost
four hours now many of the people that
i'm with actually
work in these buildings they work in the
house of representatives i was speaking
to
a couple of women who have been watching
these scenes playing out on the tv
they actually work here saying to me
that they were shocked at the level
of disrespect for the democratic
institutions of this country
seeing people with their feet up on the
table of members of the house's
desks they're not even allowed to touch
the desks on the floor they saw them
strewn around and treated with utmost
disrespect they said i also spoke to
a gentleman who worked for a member of
the house of representatives
i asked him how he felt that now that
donald trump
has told his supporters to go home
he said it's too little too late he's
called this an assault
on the democratic institutions of this
country
so i mean the general feeling here has
gone from
palpable shock to stunned disbelief
really
many thanks once again and uh for the
latest there on the
scene for us inside the capital uh in
another part of dc washington dc we have
john soppel our north america
editor whose report we saw earlier on uh
um john
can we start first of all with the real
significance of the scenes that we've
been witnessing today
in washington dc it was insurrection
according to joe biden
um what else have people been telling
you
i think people are stunned shocked
amazed
clearly the security services have got
some pretty tough questions to answer
about
why what they weren't ready for what
happened and what unfolded
and i think there was just this palpable
sense of disbelief that
america which likes to lecture the rest
of the world on how to be a good
democratic society
is seeing its own shining beacon kind of
looking rather
tattered by what has unfolded uh today
and i think the politicians have got to
ask themselves some pretty tough
questions about whether they have
contributed to this donald trump saying
on the one hand look
we love you to the protesters you're
very special
but saying they've got to obey law and
order well donald trump at the same time
is saying
no we're not going to obey the laws that
have been litigated
this has been to the courts 62 times and
they have found no evidence
of fraud in this election it's two weeks
just about to inauguration day john and
that's the time clearly when donald
trump is leaving office
against his will we know but leaving
office at that point when he told his
protesters
in that clip we saw earlier to go home
would that for you be the moment where
he kind of signaled that he knew that
this protest is up
well that is what i think is the central
contradiction of the donald trump
message which is
you can't say we believe in law and
order and
we're asking you to fight and stay
strong which is what he said in his
speech
uh outside uh the white house earlier on
today to all those supporters and i was
very struck
by just how totally 100
those tens of thousands of people
believe that the election was stolen
that joe biden is a chinese puppet of
the communist party
that uh fraud has gone on on a massive
scale
these people have been told that fed
that on a diet for weeks
now telling them to go home may be a
little bit late in the day
for that sort of change in behavior john
we'll have another word
in short while thank you very much john
sophie our north america editor with
elitist
in washington