Riot at Capitol Hill

Hello everyone,

            A dignified emblem of American democracy, Capitol Hill was stormed by some Trump-supporters on 6th January. Before getting further let me tell you about what Capitol Hill is and why is it so much important!!!

            Every democratic country needs something that can represent the democracy of their country. India has Parliament House and Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. (FYI: Rashtrapati Bhavan has 340 rooms and is the world’s largest residence of the head of state.) Similarly, America has the White House as President’s home and Capitol Hill works for a legislative branch of the American government. Capitol Hill is a house having a big dome at the top. The American Parliament is made up of the House of Representatives and Senate. Capitol Hill serves as a meeting place for both House of Representatives and Senate. The votes of the US election were counted here.

The entire scenario: What happened at Capitol Hill???

            Let’s start from the beginning when the US elections happened and the result came. Donald Trump was not ready to believe the electoral results and did not want to give up from the President’s post. Even before the US elections, when the Presidential Debate happened Donald Trump overstepped his bounds and forgot how to behave like the president of a superpower country!!

            On January 6th, after counting of electoral votes, officially announcing Joe Biden as the winner of US elections. The official announcement of Joe Biden as the President of the United States and Kamala Harris as the Vice-President was pre-determined. However, everyone knew the winner of the US elections but the official announcement by American Congress was crucial for democracy.

            When the Parliament proceedings began at Capitol Hill, Donald Trump was busy addressing his supporters. Trump stated that “When my speech will end, we all will march towards Capitol Hill.” Some supporters didn’t even wait for the speech to end and headed towards Capitol Hill.   

            The security official had not imagined that many supporters will come in and so they were not prepared to encounter this much of a crowd. The public penetrated inside Capitol Hill by jumping over the wall, climbing over trees, or breaking the fencing of the walls. There were some Indians also included in the crowd because along with different flags, the Indian flag was waving too.

            When the crowd stormed inside Capitol Hill, there was a meeting going on under the leading of the Vice-President, Mike Pence, and the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. All the supporters became attackers when they reached there. The attackers tried to sabotage Capitol Hill and broke as many as things possible. The riot happened inside Capitol Hill and rioters tried to damage that historical building as much as possible. The attackers reached important parts of the building such as the Chamber of Speaker and Parliament’s central part, where American representatives were present. To prevent the intruders from entering the central house, the doors were closed and barricades were erected. Finally, the security fired bullets at attackers and took control of the situation.

Some interesting facts about Capitol Hill:

• This construction of this building was started in 1793 and completed in 1800. On 18th September, George Washington laid the foundation stone.

• The first meeting of Parliament was held here on 17th November 1800.

• Thomas Jefferson (third President of the US) declared the $500 prize for the design of this Capitol Hill building. A British-American Architect, William Thornton designed Capitol Hill.

• Capitol has a height of 288 Ft. To maintain the dignity of the emblem of American democracy, the law was passed in 1899 stated that “No building taller than Capitol.” However, this law was removed in 1910.

• The building has more than 540 rooms. The length of the building is 751 Ft and the width is 350 Ft.

• The circular area below the circular dome is 96 Ft in diameter and height of 180 Ft.

• It is a 5-story building.

• There is a statue on the top of the dome called a ‘Statue of Freedom’ weighing 6800 kilograms and a height of 19.5 Ft.

• The library of Capitol Hill stores approximately 3,75,00,000 books and other printed documents.

• Along with the Parliament, Capitol Hill serves as the workplace for Supreme Court and American Justice Department.

Conclusion: The riot at Capitol Hill was a disgraceful incident and tarnished American history. This incident was rebuked by the whole world. The Prime Minister of Britain Boris Johnson, PM of India Narendra Modi, President of France Emmanuel Macron, PM of Canada Justin Trudeau, and PM of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern have remarked on the incident.

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