The United States witnessed a historic chain of events take place that began early yesterday morning during the certification of the Electoral College’s votes to make President-Elect Joe Biden the 46th President of the United States.
2 p.m. Tensions between protestors and law enforcement at the U.S. Capitol come to a head as officers begin evacuating the building. Law enforcement urges both the Cannon House Office Building and Library of Congress to be evacuated as well, but it was not immediately clear why.
2:30 p.m. Protestors break into the U.S. Capitol building. House members mill the floor and check their phones, while session is expected to resume soon. Mayor Muriel Bowser enacts a 6 p.m. curfew for the city, which extends through 6 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. More skirmishes between cops and protestors occur.
2:50 p.m. Members of Congress are urged to put on gas masks after tear gas was released inside the capitol building. President Donald Trump implores protestors to stay peaceful while many paraded through the shutdown parts of the public spaces. The U.S. Capitol is placed on lockdown.
3:15 p.m. Roughly 200 additional National Guard members are requested.
3:30 p.m. One person is shot at the capitol building. Circumstances and exact details about the hsooting are unclear at the time. The person is taken to a hospital and their condition is unknown.
4:00 p.m. One thousand National Guard members are dispersed to the U.S. Capitol. Vice President Mike Pence calls for protestors to disperse, calling for peace. President-elect Biden issues a statement about the violence and urges President Donald Trump to make a televised statement calling for supporters to end the violence.
l4:35 p.m. An explosive device has been found near the U.S. Capitol but was quickly declared not a threat.
4:40 p.m. Trump releases a video message, pressing protestors to desist and “go home.” Protestors release tear gas and other chemical irritants on police as the violence continues. Thirteen arrests are made.
5:05 p.m. Protestors in other states gather outside courthouses, demanding that the certification be stopped. Protestors in Minnesota are heard cheering when news breaks that protestors in D.C. have broken into the capitol. Protestors across the country are armed.
5:40 p.m. Police begin using tear gas and percussion grenades to clear protestors from the U.S. Capitol grounds. Scaffolding for the Inauguration is torn down and thrown at police.
6:10 p.m. The woman shot during the violence, later identified as Ashli Babbitt, 35, dies.
6:55 p.m. Nancy Pelosi states that session will resume once all the protestors are cleared and all is declared safe. She notes that the day would be ‘part of history’. Derrick Evans, a West Virginia politician, films a video of himself and other protestors storming the capitol building. Tear gas and pepper spray can be seen being used in the video.
8:10 p.m. The Senate resumes after protests attempt to halt the debate entirely.
9:10 p.m. Gov. Cuomo sends 1,000 members of the National Guard to help with Inauguration. Law enforcement from Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey will also join.
As of Jan. 7, 2021 President Donald Trump has been temporarily banned from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The president released a televised statement in which he assured a ‘peaceful transition of power’.
As of Jan. 8, 2021, President Donald Trump’s @ realDonaldTrump twitter account has been permanently suspended.
Jeri Hensley
Creative Director and Reporter