Capitol riots: Dozens of arrests as police find molotov cocktails, pipe bombs and guns at pro-Trump siege

Emergency order extended to take in inauguration day

Police in Washington DC have made dozens of arrests after uncovering molotov cocktails, pipe bombs and guns at the pro-Trump siege.

Police officials said a total of four people had lost their lives in the day of chaos and violence.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday evening, with DC police chief Police Chief Robert Robert J Contee, Ms Bowser she was startled by efforts to disrupt events taking place in her city. 

People had “sought to disrupt the Congressional proceedings relating to the acceptance of electoral college votes”.

“Persons are dissatisfied with judicial rulings and the findings of State Boards of Elections, and some persons can be expected to continue their violent protests through the inauguration.”

“What we do by extending this public emergency by 15 days, in addition to allowing me to to organise the operations of our government, is that we want to put everybody on notice that some extraordinary act by the government, that could restrict their movement or their business, may be necessary,” she said.

“And as far as a curfew goes for the remainder of the event, we will announce that as we see it.”

Mr Contee said at least 50 arrests had been made and that officers found two pipe bombs and a cooler with Molotov cocktails, close to the Capitol grounds.

Fox News reported Mr Contee as saying officers used tear gas and percussion grenades to clear protesters from the Capitol grounds ahead of the start of the citywide 6pm curfew, ordered by the mayor.

He said about 14 police officers were injured during the protests. One was seriously injured after being pulled into a crowd and assaulted. Another had serious facial injuries.

Meanwhile, a number of politicians started asking questions about how the event was permitted to spiral out of control, questioning whether a lack of preparedness allowed people occupy and vandalise the building.

Democratic congresswoman Zoe Lofgren said the breach “raises grave security concerns”, adding that her committee would work with House and Senate leaders to review the police response.

Congresswoman Val Demings, a former police chief, said it was “painfully obvious” that Capitol police “were not prepared for today”

“I certainly thought that we would have had a stronger show of force, that there would have been steps taken in the very beginning to make sure that there was a designated area for the protesters in a safe distance from the Capitol,” she said.

Speaking to MSNBC she said it appeared police were woefully understaffed, adding that ”it did not seem that they had a clear operational plan to really deal with“ thousands of protesters who descended on the Capitol following MrTrump's complaints of a ”rigged election”.

Additional reporting by Associated Press