S Capitol building, venting their anger at the victory of Joe Biden in the presidential election, they forced the evacuation and locked down off Congress itself, where lawmakers were all set to approve the election result.

Shortly before the clashes, President Trump had addressed his supporters near the White House, telling them that he would never accept defeat.

Within the past hour, President elect Biden called on Mr Trump to tell his people to go home on Within minutes, that was indeed, the message delivered from the White House will be live on Capitol Hill shortly.

First, we'll have this report by our North America editor, John So Paul.

The peaceful transfer of power, the cornerstone of American democracy, seemed a highly abstract concept today, a Z Trump supporters clashed with police assed they tried on, succeeded to storm the congress where America's elected leaders had gathered to certify the election victory of Joe Biden.

Earlier, in a rally outside the White House, Donald Trump encouraged his loyal base to fight to overturn the result of this bitterly contested election.

We're gonna walk down to the capital and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we're probably not gonna be cheering so much for some of them because you'll never take back our country with weakness.

You have to show strength and you have to be strong.

Many of his supporters, needing little encouragement to join the fight we're here to support, You know, if if violence happens like it happens, but we're not going to start it, you know, we're just like here to defend ourselves.

Blood.

Yeah.

So I said that a Mexican immigrant I support Trump.

Freedom is paid for with blood and tyranny always masquerades itself as safety and security.

And that's what we're fighting against right now.

Outside the capital, the outer ring of security had been breached.

The crowds had taken Donald Trump at his word on.

They were taking the fight to the heart of American democracy.

The fact that yeah, they were literally banging on the doors of Congress Square, and then some Trump supporters managed to get inside.

They were armed and wondering the Capitol building thing.

There were tense and violent scenes with police who have never dealt with anything like this thing.

Thes pictures appear to show a woman protester being shot inside the Capitol building.

A stretcher was sent in.

She was later given CPR.

Ah protester breached the inner sanctum of the chamber.

The vice president had to be removed to safety by his Secret Service detail on.

Then the joint session was adjourned.

Earlier, the Republican Senate leader for so long, a loyal leftenant of the president, turned on him with this withering assessment.

This election were overturned by mere allegations.

From the losing side.

Our democracy would enter a death spiral.

We'd never see the whole nation except on election again.

Every four years would be a scramble for power at any cost on.

The vice president, who's officiating over this joint session on has shown Donald Trump near slavish loyalty, also said it was not his role toe overturn the verdict of the people.

My oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to decide which electoral votes should be counted.

And he went on, The presidency belongs to the people onto them alone and the president elect has gone on television to warn that American democracy is under unprecedented assault on he made this appeal.

I call on President Trump to go on national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege to storm the capital to smash windows to occupy offices.

The floor of the United States Senate rummaging through desk on the capital on the House of Representatives, threatening the safety of duly elected officials.

It's not protest.

It's insurrection.

Donald Trump has spoken.

He called on his supporters to stand down the condemnation.

There was none.

This was a fraudulent election.

But we can't play into the hands of these people.

We have to have peace.

So go home.

We love you.

You're very special.

The chamber has emptied democracy, put on hold outside.

They were scaling the ramparts, the mob for the moment in charge, believing they have the right to overthrow the will of the people.

Tonight, the shining city on the hill, as America likes to describe itself, feels as though the light of democracy is flickering dangerously.

John so called BBC News Washington John's report there will be talking to him in a short while.

But these are the images now in Washington, D.

C.

Tonight the president's message has been delivered.

He's told people to go home.

Some people have.

But as we can see, there are plenty of people still around.

Thekla Pittle Hill, still wanting to make their protests, heard still wanting to urge members of Congress not to ratify the election result.

That's despite by the way Republican leaders on Capitol Hill saying that this protest is wrong.

So those of the live images.

What I'd like to do now is bringing to colleagues one of them who's outside Capitol Hill.

There, Allie Mack Bolan.

One inside.

Who's LeBeau?

DeCecco will come Thio level in a second.

But Alan, first of all, could you bring us up to date?

What's happening there?

Aunt?

Have the police drafted in more help by now?

Yeah, well, there was a lull for an hour or so.

There were hundreds of protesters away up the steps of the building on every side, right up to the doors of the capital.

Asai say there was a lull.

Justus, you're watching that report.

Uh, in the last few minutes, the police finally started to use sound bombs on some form of tear gas, and you might be able to make out that they've cleared one level of the steps outside the Capitol building.

Still, lots of people still here.

I was trying to get a sense through speaking to several of the people who stormed the building earlier, whether this was something that was planned.

And actually, they said they were inspired by the words of the president who spoke earlier in the day to take back their country on DSO.

They marched down here, but they saw that there was so little security.

They said they felt it was easy to overwhelm that security on.

They found themselves inside the building.

They started knocking on doors.

They entered into the chamber, but they said it hadn't been the plan.

But they said they will continue to make their presence felt until theoretician result, they say, is overturned in a bid to do what the man they follow is telling them to do, which is to take back their country.

This is what they translate that to bay Ali, thank you very much.

And still the action ongoing.

Assulin was telling us.

There was still hearing it in the background.

Let's go inside.

The building on D level is there for us.

You've been there all the while, a bond and just wondering what you made of the scenes we saw earlier on on what's going on there right now.

I can see that you've gone toe a quieter area for the moment.

But what's going on?

Well, here we've been on lock down here in the Capitol buildings for almost four hours now.

Many of the people that I'm with actually work in thes buildings.

They work in the House of Representatives.

I was speaking Thio Ah, couple of women who have been watching these scenes playing out on the TV.

They actually work here saying to me that they were shocked at the level of disrespect for the democratic institutions off this country, seeing people with their feet up on the table off members of the houses, desks they're not even allowed to touch the desks on the floor.

They saw them strewn around and treated with utmost disrespect, they said.

I also spoke Thio, a gentleman who works for a member of the House of Representatives.

I asked him how he felt that now that Donald Trump has told his supporters to go home, he said, It's too little, too late.

He called this an assault on the Democratic institutions off this country.

So I mean, the general feeling here has gone from palpable shock, too Stunned disbelief.

Really?

Here level.

Many thanks once again for the latest there on the scene for us inside the Capitol in another part of D.

C.

Washington, D.

C.

We have John So Paula, North America editor whose report we saw earlier on John Can we start, first of all, with the rial significance off the scenes that we've bean witnessing today in Washington, D.

C.

It was insurrection, according to Joe Biden.

What else that people have been telling you.

I think people are stunned, shocked, amazed.

Clearly, the security services have got some pretty tough questions to answer about.

Why would they weren't ready for what happened and what unfolded on.

I think there is just this palpable sense of disbelief that America, which likes to lecture the rest of the world on how to be a good democratic society, is seeing its own shining beacon kind of looking rather tattered.

by what has unfolded today on I think the politicians have got to ask themselves some pretty tough questions about whether they have contributed to this Donald Trump saying On the one hand, look, we love you to the protesters, you're very special.

But saying they've got to obey the law and order well, Donald Trump, at the same time, is saying no, we're not going to obey the laws that have been litigated.

This has been to the courts 62 times and they have found no evidence of fraud in this election.

It's two weeks, just about to Inauguration Day.

John on, That's the time.

Clearly, when Donald Trump is leaving office against his, well, we know.

But leaving office at that point, when he told his protesters in that clip we saw earlier to go home, would that for you be the moment where he kind of signal that he knew that this protest is up?

Well, that is what I think is the central contradiction of the Donald Trump message, which is you can't say.

We believe in law and order, Andi, we're asking you to fight and stay strong, which is what he said in his speech outside the White House earlier on today to all those supporters, and I was very struck by just how totally 100% those tens of thousands of people believe that the election was stolen.

That Joe Biden is a Chinese puppet of the Communist Party, that the fraud has gone on on a massive scale.

These people have been told that fed that on a diet for weeks now, telling them to go home maybe a little bit late in the day for that sort of changing behavior.

John, we'll have another word.

Inshore.

Well, thank you very much, John.