They’re domestic terrorists... it was chaos, says Biden

President-elect Joe Biden has denounced the rioters who stormed the US Capitol as “domestic terrorists” and he blamed President Donald Trump for the violence that has shaken the nation’s capital and beyond.

The riot by Trump supporters who breached the security of Congress on Wednesday was “not dissent, was not disorder, was not protest. It was chaos”.

Those who massed on the US Capitol intending to disrupt a joint session of Congress that was certifying Biden’s election victory over Trump “weren’t protesters”. “Don’t dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob - insurrectionists, domestic terrorists. It’s that basic,” Biden said on Thursday.

In solemn tones, Biden said the actions Trump has taken to subvert the nation’s democratic institutions throughout his presidency led directly to the mayhem in Washington, DC.

“In the past four years, we’ve had a president who’s made his contempt for our democracy, our constitution, the rule of law clear in everything he has done,” Biden said. “He unleashed an allout assault on our institutions of our democracy from the outset. And yesterday was the culmination of that unrelenting attack.”

UN rights office chief cautions Trump

The UN rights office said on Friday that Trump should disavow “very dangerous” language he has used in the build-up to the crisis. “We are deeply troubled by the incitement to violence and hatred by political leaders and we are calling on the President of the United States and other political leaders to disavow, openly disavow, false and dangerous narratives that are being spread,” UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said.

“This kind of inciteful language can be very dangerous,” Shamdasani added.

Popular gaming platform Twitch has indefinitely banned Trump’s official channel on its platform. “In light of yesterday’s shocking attack on the Capitol, we have disabled President Trump’s Twitch channel,” the company said in a statement, according to CNN.