Washington: A woman was killed in gunfire inside Capitol building after President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the building to disrupt the democratic functioning of Congress as it was in the middle of ratifying the election of Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice President.
Smoke was seen emanating from the Capitol that was under occupation by supporters as the National Guard and federal law enforcement personnel moved in to remove the rioters.
In a direct assault on the democratic process, the mobs rampaged through the Capitol, entering the Senate floor and breaking into offices of Congress members.
The protesters, who had heard a stirring declaration from Trump that he would "never concede" his defeat to Biden, rushed to the Capitol waving Trump banners and national flags.
They overwhelmed the police and broke through the barriers and entered the Senate chamber. People wearing Trump banners and bearing placards were seen walking around the chamber. One man was sitting in the chair of the Senate President.
The National Guard has been deployed and was expected to begin clearing out the Capitol amid fears of violent clashes.
On Wednesday, nearly three hours after Trump-backers stormed the Capitol that houses Congress, TV broadcasts showed what appeared to be flash bombs going off and smoke, which may be from teargas, coming out of a part of the building and some of the mob leaving the area jumping out a window.
A curfew came into effect at 6 p.m. local time.
The riot started when Congress that was holding a joint session to ratify the electoral the electoral college votes electing Democrats Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice President.
Thousands of the rioters shouting "Trump" and "USA, USA" overwhelmed the police and pushed the barriers around the Capitol and rushed after the joint session adjourned for the Senate and the House of Representatives met separately to consider objections to the electoral college votes from Arizona.
The rioters reached all the way into the Senate chamber, from where Vice President was hustled away by security. A rioter was seen on tweets sitting in the chair of the Senate president and on TV people with Trump flags and placards were shown wandering around the chamber.
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