Americans attack Congress - 13 January 2021

After the US presidential election, the United States Congress meets to count the states' votes. This tradition happens on 6th January, but there was trouble.

President Elect Joe Biden won the vote. But President Trump hasn’t accepted this. He says that he won the election. Trump organised a meeting of his supporters near the White House.

Trump: "We will never give up, we will never concede. It doesn't happen, you don't concede when there’s theft involved."

After this meeting, the crowd went to the Capitol building. This is where the US Congress meets. Some of Trump’s supporters became violent.

There weren’t enough police to stop the rioters. While Congress was counting the presidential votes, Trump supporters broke into the Capitol.

Police helped senators and representatives to safety. The rioters broke into both houses of Congress and members’ offices.

The media were attacked and cameras taken. 60 police were injured and one was killed. Four other people died.

The National Guard was called to help the police. They cleared the Capitol of rioters and Congress continued counting the electoral votes.

Vice President Mike Pence gave a speech to Congress.

Pence: "Today was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol. But thanks to the swift efforts of US Capitol police, federal, state and local law enforcement, the violence was quelled."

House of Representatives Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said the rioters would not win.

Pelosi: “Today, a shameful assault was made on our democracy. It cannot, however, deter us from our responsibility to validate the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”