Congressmen fled as protesters stormed the building
Credit: GETTY IMAGES
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"Where are they?" a Trump supporter demanded in a crowd of dozens roaming the halls of the Capitol, bearing Trump flags and pounding on doors.
Lawmakers were hiding under tables, hunkered in lockdowns, saying prayers and seeing America’s divisions up close and violent.
Guns were drawn and a woman was shot and killed. A Trump flag was hung on the Capitol, tear gas was fired and glass shattered.
But how did it happen? How did a violent mob get inside the Capitol building? Here’s what we know.
Security quickly overwhelmed
Mr Trump’s supporters gathered along a police barricade outside the western steps of the Capitol, and many soon climbed the steps.
Police in the Capitol responded with tear gas but were overwhelmed.
Climbing the walls, the mob then swarmed the western and eastern sides of the Capitol.
Protesters inside the Rotunda
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Chamber breached
Some protesters the broke a window and the crowd flooded into the building. It was shortly after this that Mr Trump’s supporters broke through the doors of the part of the building that contains the House Chamber.
Inside the Capitol Rotunda, Trump supporters vandalised statues.
Police responded by barricading the main doors to the chamber. Officers drew their guns as the mob banged on the door.
Congressmen were given gas masks and fled from the chamber.
Police seized five guns and arrested at least 13 people, while dozens evaded law enforcement.
Protesters also roamed freely in the Senate chamber and Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office suite.
Police drew their weapons as protesters tried to break in to the House chamber
Credit: AP
Armed officers swoop
Heavily armed officers brought in as reinforcements started using tear gas in a coordinated effort to get people moving toward the door, then combed the halls for stragglers, pushing the mob farther out onto the plaza and lawn, in clouds of tear gas, flash-bangs and percussion grenades.
Video footage (below) also showed officers letting people calmly walk out the doors of the Capitol despite the rioting and vandalism.
So first the cops let them in, and then, at the end, they just got to leave. pic.twitter.com/QifyIV3ZZY
— Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) January 6, 2021
‘I could see police were outmanned’
Early on, some inside the Capitol saw the trouble coming outside the windows.
Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota surveyed the growing crowd on the grounds not long after Trump had addressed his supporters by the Ellipse, fueling their grievances over an election that he and they say he won, against all evidence.
"I looked out the windows and could see how outmanned the Capitol Police were," Mr Phillips said. Under the very risers set up for Biden’s inauguration, Trump supporters clashed with police who blasted pepper spray in an attempt to hold them back.
But it didn’t work.
Tear gas inside the Capitol building
Credit: GETTY IMAGES
Announcements blared: Due to an "external security threat," no one could enter or exit the Capitol complex, the recording said. A loud bang sounded as officials detonated a suspicious package to make sure it was not dangerous.
It was about 1.15pm. when New Hampshire representative Chris Pappas, a Democrat, said Capitol Police banged on his door and "told us to drop everything, get out as quickly as we could."
"It was breathtaking how quickly law enforcement got overwhelmed by these protesters," he told The Associated Press.
"Protesters are in the building," were the last words picked up by a microphone carrying a live feed of the Senate before it shut off.
Police evacuated the chamber at 2.30pm, grabbing boxes of Electoral College certificates as they left.
Mr Phillips yelled at Republicans: "This is because of you!"
‘They pushed furniture up against the door’
Scott Peters, a Democrat representative from California, told reporters he was in the House chamber when protesters began storming it. He said security officers urged lawmakers to put gas masks on and herded them into a corner of the massive room.
"When we got over to other side of the gallery, the Republican side, they made us all get down, you could see that they were fending off some sort of assault, it looked like," he said.
In pictures: Donald Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol Building
"They had a piece of furniture up against the door, the door, the entry to the floor from the Rotunda, and they had guns pulled." The officers eventually escorted the lawmakers out of the chamber.
Shortly after being told to put on gas masks, most members were quickly escorted out of the chamber. But some members remained in the upper gallery seats, where they had been seated due to distancing requirements.
Along with a group of reporters who had been escorted from the press area and Capitol workers who act as ushers, the members ducked on the floor as police secured a door to the chamber down below with guns pointed. After making sure the hallways were clear, police swiftly escorted the members and others down a series of hallways and tunnels to a cafeteria in one of the House office buildings.
‘Officers told us all to get down’
Describing the scene, Democratic representative Jim Himes of Connecticut said: "There was a point there where officers had their guns and weapons pointed at the door, they were obviously expecting a breach through the door. It was clear that there were pretty close to pulling the trigger so they asked us all to get down in the chamber."
As he walked out of the Capitol, Mr Himes said he had lived in Latin America and "always assumed it could never happen here."
"We’ve known for years that our democracy was in peril and this is hopefully the worst and final moment of it," Mr Himes said.
"But with a president egging these people on, with the Republicans doing all they can to try to make people feel like their democracy has been taken away from them even though they’re the ones doing the taking, it’s really hard, really sad. I spent my entire political career reaching out to the other side. And it’s really hard to see this."
Democratic Illinois representative Mike Quigley was also in the balcony. "It’s not good to be around terrified colleagues, with guns drawn toward people who have a barricade… people crying. Not what you want to see," he said.
"This is how a coup is started," Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat from California, added. "This is how democracy dies."
But after the chaos of the day, lawmakers were defiant.
"These thugs are not running us off," said Senator Joe Manchin III, a Democrat from West Virginia.
"We’re going to finish tonight. Everyone is committed to staying whatever it takes to get our job done."
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