WASHINGTON (Eagle News) — As the U.S. Congress started the process of officially certifying the winner of the 2020 U.S. presidential elections, thousands of protesters who gathered in Washington D.C. to stop the process intensified their efforts forcing Mayor Muriel Bowser to order a city wide curfew starting at 6 p.m. today until 6 a.m. Thursday, January 7.

The statement said that “during the hours of the curfew, no person, other than persons designated by the Mayor, shall walk, bike, run, loiter, stand, or motor by car or other maode of transport upon any street, alley, park, or other public place within the District.”

The curfew does not apply to essential workers, including credentialed working media.

The senate floor as well as other Capitol offices were evacuated as protesters broke barriers and rushed the Capitol building.

 

 

Police fired tear gas as they struggled to remove a sea of protesters who took aim, at Trump’s urging, at what for more than two centuries had been a quiet, ceremonial session to confirm the election’s winner.

“The President of the United States is inciting a coup. We will not be intimidated. We will not be deterred,” tweeted Democratic Representative Karen Bass.

Representative Val Demings likewise denounced the storming of the Capitol as evidence of “a coup in progress” — in words echoed by half a dozen lawmakers.

Representative Elaine Luria said she had to evacuate because of a report of a pipe bomb and said she believed she heard gunshots.

“I don’t recognize our country today and the members of Congress who have supported this anarchy do not deserve to represent their fellow Americans,” she said.

Rambling angrily, the president warned “weak” Republicans not to certify Biden’s victory and put direct pressure on Vice President Mike Pence, who ceremonially presided over the session.

“We will never give up. We will never concede,” Trump told the cheering crowd, few wearing masks despite a spike in Covid cases.

 

(Eagle News Service)