Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump gathered en masse and stormed the Capitol building on Wednesday, breaching police barricades and forcing the building into a lockdown.
The protests came as a joint session of Congress commenced to confirm Joe Biden‘s 2020 presidential election victory.
Supporters of the Republican president entered the building, breaching the Senate and the private offices of elected officials.
Here’s a look at what happened inside the building.
As protesters stormed the entrances, the building went into lockdown, forcing politicians, their staffers and members of the media to shelter in place.
Others were evacuated from their offices and from the chambers to undisclosed locations as police worked to secure the building.
Philly Inquirer reporter Jonathan Tamari, who was inside the House Chamber, said protesters were smashing the doors of the room in an attempt to get inside.
“My hands are starting to shake,” Politico reporter Olivia Beavers wrote from inside the chamber.
“I can’t fully relay right (now) how fear is coursing through the house right now as the sound of gas masks are being unwrapped.”
Photos from inside the room show people sheltering in place, hiding underneath the seats and in the aisles of the gallery.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Furniture was pushed against the door to try to secure the chamber as members of the mob banged on the doors.
Photos of the scene show security with guns drawn, pointing at the door to the chamber after a glass panel was smashed.
Maryland Rep. David Trone shared photos of himself donning a provided gas mask on Twitter, confirming he was safe.
“We have been evacuated,” he said. “Let me be clear: we will not be stopped by this lawless intimidation.”
Congresswoman Grace Meng shared photos on Twitter of her hiding spot.
“After 5 hours I’ve been rescued from my hiding place,” she wrote. “Now I can show you my DIY barricade and gas masks.”
Meng said she could hear protesters outside the door chanting “USA.”
“It was scary but I am ok!” she said.
Meanwhile in the Senate, protesters were able to get into the gallery and on the chamber’s floor.
(Getty Images)
Photos show one protester sitting in the chair Vice President Mike Pence occupied just minutes earlier.
Metropolitan police confirmed to Global News one woman who was shot inside the Capitol building has died.
She was “pronounced dead at an area hospital,” officers said.
It is not immediately clear who the woman was, or who shot her.
Trump supporters also breached the offices of elected members of Congress, sitting behind desks and touching their belongings.
Photographers inside the Capitol building caught the break-ins on camera.
(Getty images)
Meanwhile, outside, police remained drastically outnumbered by the protesters, and struggled to keep the protesters off of the steps and balconies of the buildings.
Speaking to Americans on Tuesday, Biden said America’s democracy is “under unprecedented assault, unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times.”
However, Biden said the actions of these “extremists” do not reflect the “true America.”
“They do not represent who we are,” he said, adding that “it must end now.”
Biden called on Trump to “go on national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege.”
Biden said today is a “painful reminder” that “democracy is fragile.”
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer echoed Biden’s remarks in a statement, calling on Trump to demand the protestors leave the Capitol building and grounds “immediately.”
In a video posted to Twitter just before 4:30 p.m. ET, Trump told his supporters: “You have to go home now.”
However, in the video, Trump continued to assert baseless claims that the election had been “stolen.”
Earlier, the president tweeted, asking people at the Capitol to “remain peaceful,” despite reports of protesters and police clashing.
“No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order — respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!” he wrote.
Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has ordered a 6 p.m. curfew.
According to a Reuters report, the building was considered secured just before 6 p.m. ET.
House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving told House members the building was cleared after they spent several hours in lockdown following evacuation as pro-Trump demonstrators attacked the Capitol.
Republican Senator Mitt Romney said what happened Wednesday was “an insurrection, incited by the President of the United States.”
“Those who choose to continue to support his dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate, democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy,” he said in a statement.
“They will be remembered for their role in this shameful episode in American history. That will be their legacy”
Romney said Congress “must not be intimidated or prevented from fulfilling our constitutional duty.”“We must continue with the count of electoral college votes.”
In a tweet Wednesday just after 7 p.m., Pence’s Press Secretary Devin O’Malley said the Vice President has “returned to the Senate.”
O’Malley said Pence was in “regular contact” with House and Senate leadership, police the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense to “facilitate efforts to secure the Capitol & reconvene Congress.”
-With a file from Reuters
© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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VICTORIA — Premier David Eby has pushed the pause button on a contentious bill that would have allowed the province to recover health care and other costs attributed to the marketing of risky products in B.C.
Two dozen business and industry groups had called for the New Democrats to put the bill on hold, claiming it was so broadly drafted that it could be used to go after producers, distributors and retailers of every kind.
“It is safe to say that we got the attention of these major multinational companies,” the premier told reporters on Tuesday, citing the deal with Meta, Snapchat, TikTok and X, the major players in the field.
“They understand our concern and the urgency with which we’re approaching this issue. They also understand the bill is still there.”
The New Democrats maintain that the legislation was never intended to capture the many B.C. companies and associations that complained about it.
Rather it was targeted at Facebook owner Meta and other social media companies and the online harm done to young people. A prime example was the suicide of a Prince George youth who was trapped by an online predator.
Still, there was nothing in the wording of Bill 12, the Public Health Accountability and Cost Recovery Act, to indicate its application would be confined to social media companies or their impact on young people.
Some critics wondered if the bill’s broad-based concept of harms and risks could be used to prosecute the liquor board or the dispensers of safer-supply drugs, products with proven harms greater than any sugary drink.
Perhaps thinking along those lines, the government specifically exempted itself from prosecution under the Act.
This week’s announcement came as a surprise. As recently as Monday, Attorney General Niki Sharma told reporters the government had no intention of putting the bill on hold.
Tuesday, she justified her evasion by saying the talks with the social media companies were intense and confidential.
She said the pause was conditional on Meta and the other companies delivering a quick response to government concerns.
“British Columbians expect us to take action on online safety,” she told reporters. “What I’ll be looking for at this table is quick and immediate action to get to that better, safety online.”
A prime goal is addressing online harassment and “the online mental health and anxiety that’s rising in young people,” she said
“I want to sit down with these companies look at them face to face and see what they can do immediately to improve the outcomes for British Columbians.”
Meta has already committed to rectifying Eby’s concern that it should relay urgent news about wildfires, flood and other disasters in B.C. Last year, those were blocked, collateral damage in the company’s hardball dispute with the federal government over linking to news stories from Canadian media companies.
Eby says he was very skeptical about the initial contact from the companies. Now he sees Meta’s willingness to deliver emergency information as a “major step” and he’s prepared to give talks the benefit of the doubt.
Not long ago he was scoring political points off the social media companies in the harshest terms.
“The billionaires who run them resist accountability, resist any suggestion that they have responsibility for the harms that they are causing,” said the premier on March 14, the day Bill 12 was introduced.
Given those characterizations, perhaps the big, faceless billionaires will simply direct their negotiating team to play for time until the legislation adjourns as scheduled on May 16.
“The legislation is not being pulled and we’re not backtracking,” said Sharma. “We can always come back and bring legislation back.”
The government could schedule a quick makeup session of the legislature in late May or June or even in early September, before the house is dissolved for the four-week campaign leading up to the scheduled election day, Oct. 19.
More likely, if the New Democrats feel doublecrossed, they could go back to war with the faceless billionaires with a view to re-enacting Bill 12 after a hoped-for election victory.
Even if the New Democrats get some satisfaction from the social media companies in the short term, they have also framed Bill 12 as a way to force the marketers of risky products to help cover the cost of health care and other services.
B.C.’s attorney general says the province can bring the online harms legislation back but it will first seek remedies through negotiations with social media companies.Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
The British Columbia government has agreed to shelve proposed legislation that would have allowed it to sue social-media companies for online harms after Meta, TikTok and others agreed to work with the province to put voluntary protections in place.
The social-media companies have not agreed to anything other than talks, but Attorney-General Niki Sharma credited the proposed legislation with bringing the key players to the province’s door.
“Our bill was able to get the attention of some pretty big companies out there and get them to the table with us, and I’m pleased with that,” she told reporters Tuesday.
The government can bring the bill back, she said, but it will first seek remedies through negotiations. “We could be locked in litigation for years, but at this stage it’s my obligation to see if we can come to some kind of improvements,” Ms. Sharma said.
Premier David Eby said the agreement was hammered out after Meta reached out to the province. A spokesperson for the company could not immediately be reached for comment.
Danielle Morgan, a spokesperson for TikTok, said her company is committed to developing new safeguards. “We look forward to joining Premier Eby and working with industry counterparts … to discuss best practices towards our shared goal of keeping young people safe online.”
The province introduced Bill 12, the Public Health Accountability and Cost Recovery Act, in March with the promise that it would allow government to recover costs associated with the promotion, marketing and distribution of products that are harmful to adults and children in the province.
But while the bill received the support of researchers who study the impact of some platforms on mental well-being, particularly in teenagers, the broad scope of the legislation alarmed business leaders who warned it could be used to target companies well beyond social-media platforms.
“The net spread so widely, it could capture just about anything you could imagine,” said Bridgitte Anderson, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. She said the provincial government heard the concerns of many different sectors when it withdrew the bill from this spring’s legislative agenda. “We’re delighted the government is going to hit pause on this.”
The B.C. bill was tabled just weeks after Ottawa introduced Bill C-63 to create a new Online Harms Act, which is meant to hold tech platforms accountable for the content they host.
Kaitlynn Mendes, a professor of sociology at Ontario’s Western University, is an expert on the impact of online harms on youth, including sexual exploitation, self-harm, anxiety and anti-social behaviour.
She said the B.C. government is being optimistic in thinking it can bring social-media giants into line without a legal cudgel.
“I think that is wishful thinking. Industries don’t want to be governed. They’d rather have codes of conduct but that relies on them being good faith actors – ultimately, they are going to act in their best interests. I’d be skeptical that it’s going to change anything,” she said in an interview.
“I really hope the Canadian government doesn’t try to rely on deals. We need to have structures in place to hold these companies accountable.”
Mr. Eby issued a joint statement on Tuesday with representatives from Meta, TikTok, Snap and X, saying they have reached an agreement to work to help young people stay safe online through the new BC Online Safety Action Table.
“Digital platforms are powerful tools, which can connect family members and loved ones and are places where we find like-minded people. Places where community is built and sustained. But the internet is also a place where criminals and scammers are constantly seeking new ways to find and extort potential victims,” the joint statement said.
Mr. Eby championed the pursuit of tackling social-media harms after meeting with the grieving parents of Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old who killed himself last October after being sexually victimized online.
“Carson was deceived by an online predator, tormented and sexually extorted. He took his own life before his parents were aware of what was happening,” the statement continued. “Premier Eby made a promise to Carson’s parents that his government would find ways to make sure Carson left behind a legacy that will help protect other young people.”
The province will place Bill 12 on hold while the parties meet to discuss how to protect youth from online harms before they happen.
Ms. Sharma said there are three areas B.C. wants addressed: sexual exploitation of youth online; rising mental-health issues and anxiety among young people; and online harassment and bullying.
B.C.’s bill was modelled on its efforts to seek damages from major tobacco companies over tobacco-related health costs. The province was the first Canadian jurisdiction to launch such a lawsuit, in 1998, but that case is not yet resolved – underscoring the lengthy process involved in reaching a resolution.
Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.
Opening arguments began in former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial on Monday, with much of the news media coverage homing in on as many details as possible about the proceedings.
Jon Stewart called the trial a “test of the fairness of the American legal system, but it’s also a test of the media’s ability to cover Donald Trump in a responsible way.”
Jimmy Kimmel’s sidekick, Guillermo Rodriguez, took the stage with Madonna in Mexico City over the weekend.
The economist Stephanie Kelton will chat with Jordan Klepper and Ronny Chieng, the guest co-hosts, on Tuesday’s “Daily Show.”
In “Under the Bridge,” Hulu’s chilling new series, Riley Keough and Lily Gladstone investigate the murder of a teenager.
Remnants of bird flu virus found in pasteurized milk, FDA says
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Some Canadians will be digging out of 25+ cm of snow by Friday – The Weather Network
"Hi, It's Me": NASA's Voyager 1 Phones Home From 15 Billion Miles Away – NDTV
Jon Stewart Slams the Media for Coverage of Trump Trial – The New York Times
Made Right Here: Woodworking art – CTV News Kitchener
Taxes should not wag the tail of the investment dog, but that’s what Trudeau wants
Auston Matthews turns it up with three-point night as Maple Leafs slay Bruins in Game 2 – Toronto Sun
