Hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday (January 6) in an attempt to reverse their defeat in the elections, battling police in the corridors and delaying certification of Democratic President-elect Joe Biden’s victory for hours.
French President Emmanuel Macron published in the early hours of Thursday (January 7) a video about his social media accounts with the hashtag “#WeAreOne”.
“I just wanted to express our friendship and our faith in the United States. What happened today in Washington DC is definitely not American. We believe in the strength of our democracies. We believe in the strength of American democracy, ”said Macron.
Britain’s Interior Minister Priti Patel said on Thursday that the takeover of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump was “terrible beyond words” and urged Trump to condemn the violence.
Video transcription
EMMANUEL MACRON: I just wanted to express our friendship and faith in the United States. What happened today in Washington DC is definitely not America. We believe in the strength of our democracies. We believe in the strength of American democracy.
PRITI PATEL: Well, look, I think first of all, the – just the level of language and rhetoric clearly – comments really helped to fuel the violence. And I think there is no room for violence of any kind. And it’s just terrible in terms of what we’ve seen, totally unacceptable.
And frankly, the United States needs to move on, to have the transition that is absolutely essential and the type of transition that the United States is famous for, in fact, when it comes to the transfer between different political parties after an election period.
But, frankly, the violence we saw was so terrible and there is no justification for it. Well, your comments led directly to the violence. And so far, he has failed to condemn violence, and that is completely wrong.