Rutte calls on Trump to end Washington violence, accept Biden won
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte reacted to the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, the first time the building has been breached in an uprising since the War of 1812. At least one person was shot and killed, a joint session of Congress was suspended, guns were drawn in the House of Representatives, the Senate was evacuated, and Vice President Mike Pence was whisked off to a secure location.
“Horrible images from Washington D.C.,” Rutte said on Twitter. He addressed President Donald Trump directly, calling on him to immediately recognize President-Elect Joe Biden “as the next president today.”
“For 18 years, the United States Capitol was my workplace. It breaks my heart to see what has transpired there today,” said Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands. Hoekstra, a Republican, served as a Congressman elected from the second district in Michigan.
“My thoughts & prayers are with my former colleagues on the Hill...and with America.”
About two dozen people were arrested at the Capitol. Several police officers were injured during the events. The Capitol was declared secured by about midnight Central European Time.
It all started a day earlier when thousands of Trump supporters converged on Washington on Tuesday to hold a rally repeating Trump’s unproven claims that the election in November was illegitimate. The President addressed the crowd on Wednesday, and continued his rhetoric that he was entitled to a second term in office even as no fraud has been proven.
“We will never give up, we will never concede. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved,” he said.
Following his speech, supporters marched to the U.S. Capitol where a Joint Session of Congress was set to accept the certified results from the election. Hundreds then broke through police lines and barricades and entered the building, causing a suspension to the proceedings.
One woman was shot inside the Capitol, and was reportedly in critical condition. Armed police drew there firearms in the House of Representatives, where a barricade prevented protestors from entering. The doors of the Senate chamber were sealed and Senators were told to stay away from the entryways.
“It’s not protest. It’s insurrection,” Biden said of the chaotic events. “The words of a president matter, no matter how good or bad it is.”
Biden demanded that Trump “defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege.”
