World leaders expressed their shock as supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol building where Congress meets in an attempt to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 election won by Joe Biden, Reuters informs.
Iran’s president said it proved the weakness of Western democracy while officials in China and Russia compared the storming to protests in Hong Kong and Ukraine.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “saddened” by the events at the U.S. Capitol, his spokesman said.
“In such circumstances, it is important that political leaders impress on their followers the need to refrain from violence, as well as to respect democratic processes and the rule of law,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
China drew a comparison between the storming of the U.S. Capitol and last year’s often-violent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, but noted that no one had died when demonstrators took over the legislature of the China-ruled city. Four people died in the Washington violence, police said.
“We also wish that U.S. people can enjoy peace, stability and security as soon as possible,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily briefing.
“Quite Maidan-style pictures are coming from DC,” Russia’s deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy posted on Twitter, referring to protests in Ukraine that toppled Russian-backed President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovich in 2014.
“Some of my friends ask whether someone will distribute crackers to the protesters to echo the Victoria Nuland stunt,” he said, citing a 2013 visit to Ukraine when then-U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland offered food to protesters.
“Distressed to see news about rioting and violence in Washington DC,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet. “Orderly and peaceful transfer of power must continue. The democratic process cannot be allowed to be subverted through unlawful protests.”
“We decline to comment on President Trump’s political style as this is about U.S. domestic affairs,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters. “But we hope to see democracy in the United States overcome this difficult situation, calmness and harmony regained, and a peaceful and democratic transfer of power.”
“Since its independence, America, our great and true friend, has been a beacon of democracy, and stood for the values of freedom, justice and independence,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said on Twitter. “I am sure that the American people and their elected representatives will know how to fend off this attack and will continue to defend the values on which the United States was founded.”
“What happened today in Washington DC is not American, definitely,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a video message on Twitter.
“We believe in the strength of our democracies. We believe in the strength of American democracy,” he said, speaking in English.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a tweet called the events in the U.S. Congress a “disgrace”, saying the United States stood for democracy around the world and that was it was “vital” now that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power.
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