World leaders have reacted with horror to the chaos that has consumed Washington, describing the insurrectionist attempt on the US Capitol building as “disgraceful”, “pitiful”, and “shocking”.
Prime ministers and presidents around the world have urged US president Donald Trump and his supporters to accept the result of November’s presidential election and accede to a peaceful transition of power. President-elect Joe Biden’s administration is set to be inaugurated in 14 days.
“Inflammatory words turn into violent acts – on the steps of the Reichstag, and now in the #Capitol,” Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, tweeted, as Trump loyalists led a violent assault on the heart of the American republic.
Maas urged Trump and his supporters to “finally accept the decision of the American voters and stop trampling democracy”.
“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”.
Pleading for calm in the US capital,French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the violence perpetrated against American public institutions was “a grave attack on democracy”.
“I condemn it. The will and the vote of the American people must be respected.”
The French president Emmanuel Macron committed his nation’s “friendship and faith” to the US, and said “what happened today in Washington DC is not American”.
But others condemned those who held power in America, saying Trump and his allies bore ultimate responsibility for a brutal “attack on democracy”.
“President Trump and many members of Congress bear significant responsibility for what’s now taking place,” Swedish prime minister Stefan Lofven said. “The democratic process of electing a president must be respected.”
In protests described as the greatest threat to US democracy since the civil war, Trump loyalists stormed the seat of US democracy – the Capitol building – seeking to block the certification of the presidential election held in November, a constitutional formality that will allow Biden to be inaugurated on 20 January.
While the rioters temporarily succeeded in halting the vote, the certification process resumed on Wednesday night US-time. One woman died from a gunshot wound sustained in the protests.
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 UK 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 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.”
Charles Michel, the president of the European council, tweeted: “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.”
Others called for more drastic measures, as representatives drew up articles of impeachment against Trump, for the second time in his presidency.
Poland’s former foreign minister Radek Sikorski, who chairs the EU-USA delegation to the EU parliament, tweeted, “The US Cabinet should immediately, under the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution, declare @realDonaldTrump insane and terminate his presidency.”
The disquiet reached allies on the other side of the globe. Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison said he condemned the violence of the protesters and “look[ed] forward to a peaceful transfer of government to the newly elected administration in the great American democratic tradition”. However, he stopped short of criticising Trump.
New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, wrote: “Democracy – the right of people to exercise a vote, have their voice heard and then have that decision upheld peacefully should never be undone by a mob. Our thoughts are with everyone who is as devastated as we are by the events of today. I have no doubt democracy will prevail.”
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.”
Japan’s top government spokesman, Katsunobu Kato, said the Japanese government country was “hoping for a peaceful transfer of power” in the United States.
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.”
‘A day that will go down in history’
Not everyone condemned the actions of the mob.
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy appeared to revel in the
unrest in Washington. He posted: “Quite Maidan-style pictures are coming from
DC,” on Twitter, referring to protests in Ukraine that toppled the
Russian-backed president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, in 2014.
“Some of my friends ask whether someone will distribute crackers to the
protesters to echo Victoria Nuland stunt,” he said, citing a 2013 visit to
Ukraine when the US assistant secretary of state, Victoria Nuland, offered food
to protesters.
Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of Trump’s, reiterated baseless allegations of US election fraud. Asked by a supporter for his views on the chaotic scenes in Washington, Bolsonaro said: “I followed everything today. You know I’m connected to Trump, right? So you already know my answer.”
“There were lot of reports of fraud, a lot of reports of fraud,” he added, in a video posted on social media, without providing evidence.
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.
“Trump blows up American democracy,” Eliane Cantanhêde, a prominent political commentator in Brazil, said. “A day that will go down in history. A president to be thrown in the dustbin of history.”
In China, the state-run Global Times – a mouthpiece for the Chinese communist party – sought to draw an equivalence between Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters and those in the US seeking to subvert the democratic process.
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.
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”.
Fijian prime minister Frank Bainimarama, who instigated a coup in his country in 2006, said the American protests were “an affront to democracies around the globe”, and expressed his confidence that “the USA will soon close this ugly chapter once and for all”.
Culled from The Guardian of London
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