Police drew guns and fired tear gas after pro Trump protesters marched through the halls of Congress.

House members were told by police tow lie on the floor and grab gas masks under their seats.

Police said a woman had died after being shot at the Capitol.

The National Guard was also deployed to the scene.

Some lawmakers live tweeted the dramatic lock down, one calling It's surreal, another Dan Kildee of Michigan, saying Quote, This is not a protest.

This is an attack on America.

The chaotic scenes unfolded after Trump addressed thousands of protesters and repeated false claims that the election was stolen from him due to widespread fraud.

We will never give up.

We will never concede it doesn't happen.

You don't concede with theft involved.

Trump also applied fresh pressure to vice president Mike Pence, who had been presiding over the joint session of Congress and had to be escorted from the Senate to unilaterally reject state electoral college votes.

And I hope Mike is going to do the right thing.

I hope so.

I hope so.

Trump later posted a video on Twitter in which he repeated his unsupported claim that the election was stolen from him, but called for peace and told his supporters to go home.

This was a fraudulent election, but we can't play into the hands of these people.

Outside the capital, members of militia groups and far right groups summoned body armor, mingled with the crowds.

President elect Joe Biden said it was an unprecedented assault on US democracy and called for the siege to end.

It's not protest, it's insurrection.

And the head of a business group that represents 14,000 companies, including Exxon Mobil, Pfizer and Toyota, urged senior U.

S officials to consider invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.