display

Amid protests by supporters of the elected US President Donald Trump in front of the Capitol in Washington, the two chambers of Congress surprisingly interrupted their sessions on Wednesday.

Before the results of the US presidential election were confirmed in Congress, there had been scuffles in front of the Capitol between supporters of the elected president and security guards.

Several TV channels showed how hundreds of supporters of the US president marched towards the seat of parliament after a speech by Trump, some of them engaged in fights with emergency services.

The emergency services fired pepper spray to hold back the protesters.

Police evacuated Capitol-owned office buildings during the important session of the US Congress.

Congressman workers were urged on Wednesday to vacate their offices, including those of the Cannon House Office Building.

The specific reason was initially unclear.

display

In his speech on alleged fraud in the US presidential election, Trump had called on his supporters to move to the Capitol, which houses the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The electors in mid-December confirmed the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in the US election on November 3rd.

On Wednesday, the members of the House of Representatives and Senate met in a joint meeting to again confirm the vote of the electorate.

Republicans delay Biden's confirmation as US president

Republicans appealed against the result from the state of Arizona at the meeting.

A Republican MP from the House of Representatives raised the objection.

He received support from Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

The objection forced the two chambers of congress to withdraw to separate sessions in order to debate the objections for up to two hours and to vote at the end whether they should follow them or not.

display

Biden won the state of Arizona in the presidential election in early November by almost 10,500 votes.

The defeated Republican incumbent Donald Trump sued there, as in several other states, against the results - albeit unsuccessfully.

Confirmation of the presidential election in Congress is usually a formality in the US post-election procedure.

However, various Republicans from both chambers of congress had already announced in advance that they would object to the results from several US states - driven by unsubstantiated claims of trump fraud.

Several separate sessions of the Congress Chambers were expected in the course of the day, which is likely to delay the processes considerably.

The disruptive action has no prospect of success.

Both chambers of congress would have to agree to an objection, which is considered impossible in view of the majority of Democrats in the House of Representatives.

Trump lost the election to Biden by a clear margin at the beginning of November.

But he refuses to admit defeat.

Trump claims he was robbed of victory by massive fraud.

Neither he nor his lawyers provided any convincing evidence.

Dozens of lawsuits from the Trump camp have so far been thrown out of courts, including the US Supreme Court.