The US Congress, on Thursday, certified Joe Biden as the next US president, dealing a blow to Donald Trump, whose supporters stormed the Capitol hours earlier, triggering unprecedented chaos and violence in the seat of American democracy.
Lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives successfully beat back Republican efforts to deny Biden the electoral votes from swing states Arizona and Pennsylvania.
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After a mob breached the US Capitol and sent lawmakers scrambling for safety, members of Congress returned shaken but undeterred to fulfill their duty in certifying Biden’s 306-232 Electoral College win.
Lawmakers voted down the two challenges to Biden’s victory, with several Trump loyalists reversing course in the wake of the violence that drew shock around the world.
Egged on in an extraordinary rally across town by an aggrieved Trump, a flag-waving mob broke down barricades outside the Capitol and swarmed inside, rampaging through offices and onto the usually solemn legislative floors.
Security forces fired tear gas in a four-hour operation to clear the Capitol.
Police said that one woman, reportedly a female Trump partisan from southern California, was shot and killed and that three other people died in the area in circumstances that were unclear. (AFP)
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