World leaders from Dublin to Ottawa reacted with shock and disquiet to the turmoil in Washington DC on Wednesday, with the head of Nato deploring what he called “shocking scenes”.
“The outcome of this democratic election must be respected,” Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general and former Norwegian prime minister, tweeted on Wednesday evening after US president-elect Joe Biden condemned “this godawful display” and warned: “The world is watching.”
The Irish taoiseach Micheál Martin tweeted: “The Irish people have a deep connection with the United States of America, built up over many generations. I know that many, like me, will be watching the scenes unfolding in Washington DC with great concern and dismay.”
Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, tweeted, “Inflammatory words turn into violent acts – on the steps of the Reichstag, and now in the #Capitol.” He urged Trump and his supporters to “finally accept the decision of the American voters and stop trampling democracy”.
Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison described the scenes as “very distressing”. “We condemn these acts of violence and look forward to a peaceful transfer of government to the newly elected administration in the great American democratic tradition,” Morrison added.
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Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, told the Vancouver radio station News 1130: “Obviously, we’re concerned and we’re following the situation minute by minute. I think the American democratic institutions are strong, and hopefully everything will return to normal shortly.”
“The US Congress is a temple of democracy. To witness tonight’s scenes in Washington DC is a shock. We trust the US to ensure a peaceful transfer of power to Joe Biden,” tweeted Charles Michel, the president of the European council.
In Britain, prime minister Boris Johnson condemned what he called the “disgraceful scenes in US Congress”.
“The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power,” he added.
The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, tweeted: “The US rightly takes great pride in its democracy, and there can be no justification for these violent attempts to frustrate the lawful and proper transition of power.”
The president of Colombia, Iván Duque, tweeted: “We reject the acts of violence seen today during the Electoral College vote counting in the United States Congress and I express my solidarity and support to the honorable members of Congress and to all US institutions.”
There was no immediate comment from Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, who is perhaps Donald Trump’s most fervent international supporter.
But the head of Brazil’s lower house, Rodrigo Maia, said he feared “the terrible episode” playing out in the US might offer a glimpse of what could happen in Brazil were Bolsonaro to fail in his bid for re-election in 2022.
In a statement, Turkey’s foreign ministry described events in Washington as “worrying”.
“We are following with concern the internal developments happening in the US following the presidential elections which culminated in the Capitol Hill building being breached by protesters today,” it said, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
The Organization of American States (OAS) said it condemned and repudiated the attack “by protesters who disavow recent electoral results”.
“Democracy has as its fundamental pillar the independence of the powers of the state, which must act completely free of pressure,” it added in a statement.
“The exercise of force and vandalism against the institutions constitutes a serious attack against democratic functioning.”
In Latin America, a region with a long and bloody history of US-backed coups, many were quick to describe Wednesday’s upheaval in similar terms. “This is an attempted coup … a clear and absolutely shameful attack on democracy,” said a commentator on Brazil’s GloboNews network.
Venezuela’s authoritarian government – which Trump has spent the last two years unsuccessfully trying to topple – struggled to conceal its glee at the unrest playing out to the north.
“With this pitiful episode, the US is suffering exactly what it has caused in other countries with its aggressive policies,” Venezuela’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Venezuela hopes these violent events will soon cease and that the US people will finally be able to find a new path towards stability and social justice.”
In a tweet shared by Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, its attorney general, Tarek William Saab, called the bedlam “an attempted coup d’etat against president-elect Biden”.
Eliane Cantanhêde, a prominent political commentator in Brazil, tweeted: “Trump blows up American democracy. A day that will go down in history. A president to be thrown in the dustbin of history.”
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