WASHINGTON – A woman who was shot as President Donald Trump’s supporters invaded the US Capitol yesterday has died, a Washington police spokeswoman said.
Alaina Gertz offered no details on who the woman was or the circumstances of the shooting, which is now under investigation by the metropolitan police.
Unverified videos appear to show a woman who was part of the protests on the floor inside the Capitol and bleeding after gunfire erupted momentarily.
Police cleared the last of the protesters, with US media outlets quoting the sergeants-at-arms of the House of Representatives and the Senate as saying the Capitol was now secure, about four hours after it first came under attack.
The Senate has also now reconvened to certify Joe Biden’s win of the November 3 presidential election.
A dusk-to-dawn curfew has been declared by Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, who asked for the assistance of the National Guard to help reestablish order in the nation's capital.
Meanwhile, Twitter has threatened to permanently ban Trump from the platform for flouting its civic integrity rules, ordering him to remove three rule-breaking tweets.
The messaging platform locked Trump for 12 hours and said his account will remain locked if the offending messages are not taken down, according to the Twitter safety team.
“As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, DC, we have required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump Tweets that were posted earlier today for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy,” Twitter said in a post.
“If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked.”
Twitter also began limiting the reach of tweets stoking an assault on the US Capitol by a mob intent on overturning the election results.
Facebook also said it pulled a video posted at the social network by Trump for fueling violence by supporters who stormed the Capitol building.
“This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump’s video,” Facebook vice president of integrity Guy Rosen said in a tweet.
“We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.”
YouTube has also removed a Trump video that appeared to be contributing to the mob violence by baselessly challenging the outcome of the recent presidential election, which he lost, according to media reports. – AFP, January 7, 2021
