'Moment of great dishonour & shame': Obama says Trump incited violence at US Capitol

Former President Barack Obama on Wednesday denounced the riots that have erupted at the US Capitol as a moment of ‘great dishonour’ and accused the outgoing President Donald Trump of fuelling the violence by baselessly lying about the outcome of the elections.

In an official statement, Obama said, “History will rightly remember today’s violence at the Capitol, incited by a sitting president who has continued to baselessly lie about the outcome of the lawful election, as a moment of great dishonour and shame for our nation.”

The former President accused Trump and the Republican leaders of constantly denying the truth to his followers that it was not a close election and that Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the US President on January 20. He said the Republican leaders can either keep ‘stoking the raging fires’ in Washington and obstruct the transfer of power or they can work towards extinguishing the flames.

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Barack Obama further appreciated the stand taken by Georgia's governor Brian Kemp against the violent occupation of the US Capitol by a mob ‘incited’ by Trump. Kemp, who Trump demanded to resign for not doing enough to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's victory in Georgia in the Nov 3 election, called the actions "a disgrace, and quite honestly, un-American."

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US Capitol under Seige

In an unprecedented attack on democracy, thousands of angry supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol and clashed with police, resulting in multiple injuries and interrupting a constitutional process to affirm Joe Biden's victory in the November presidential election.

The police, outnumbered by the protesters, had a tough time in managing the crowd on Wednesday, as hundreds of protesters breached security and entered the Capitol building, where members of the Congress were going through the process of counting and certifying the Electoral College votes. Both the House and Senate and the entire Capitol were placed under a lockdown.

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Members of the US Congress were asked to get hold of the gas masks under their seats as the police resorted to tear gas to disperse protestors. Multiple officers have been injured with at least who one transported to the hospital, CNN reported, citing sources. According to the Associated Press, a woman who was shot inside the Capitol during the violent pro-Trump protest has died.

Trump, who earlier encouraged his supporters to head to the Capitol, urged them to abide by the law and go back home after the violent clash. "I know you're hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side. But you have to go home. Now we have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We don't want anybody hurt,” Trump said in a short video posted on Twitter, that was later taken down by the website due to a "risk of violence".

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