US UNDER SIEGE
4 dead, 53 arrested as mob supporting Trump storms US legislature to overturn presidential election outcome
WASHINGTON: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be the next US president and vice president, Congress certified early on Thursday, hours after a stunned world saw unprecedented chaos and deadly violence when thousands of supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building and sought to thwart the peaceful transfer of power.
The Electoral College votes were approved after both the Senate and the House of Representatives rejected objections raised by the Republicans to the votes in the states of Pennsylvania and Arizona.
Biden and Harris received 306 electoral votes, while Trump and Pence got 232. The counting of Vermont’s three electoral votes put Biden and Harris over the 270-threshold needed to win the presidency. The 78-year-old Democratic leader and his 56-year-old Indian-origin deputy will be inaugurated on January 20.
In the violence on Wednesday, four people died, including one woman who was shot by a police officer, amid protests and rioting on Capitol Hill, police said.
One woman was shot and killed by Capitol Police during the rioting. Police said three other people -- a woman and two men -- died after apparently suffering “separate medical emergencies” near the Capitol grounds.
Washington’s mayor declared a curfew. At least 53 people were taken into custody, several explosive devices were found, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sought information on members of the mob.
Just after the election certification process got underway, Trump’s supporters overpowered security personnel to reach deep inside the building, forcing lawmakers to shelter under desks and in rooms, and halting the proceedings.
By late evening, the building was secured, the marchers driven out. But the crowds loitered around the complex menacingly, hurling abuses at police. Congress reconvened in the evening, lawmakers decrying the protests that defaced the Capitol and vowing to finish confirming the electoral college vote for Biden’s win, even if it took all night. Hours later, the certification was completed.
“To storm the Capitol, to smash windows, to occupy offices, and to threaten the safety of duly elected officials is not protest. It is insurrection,” Biden said.