well these clients recently stream whether it's killing their stock forcing some to abandon tradition to. one of these to investigate or not to 0. a band of donald trump's republican allies that launch a last ditch effort in congress to overturn his election loss to joe biden. if by just the right thing we were the election. trump keeps up the pressure on his vice president to stop the results being certified this as the democrats look poised to take control of congress with one candidate winning and another leading in georgia's crucial senate race.

hello i'm barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up . the greek orthodox church rebels against government coronavirus restrictions going ahead with services to market peace any and police in hong kong of arrest $53.00 pro-democracy politicians and activists in the biggest crackdown so far under china's national security. and as we start the program let us take you straight to washington d.c. just outside the capitol hill overpass equal hey is there a patty there's a lot going on inside the hill of course tell us what's going on outside. so why is what is at the scene for you right now we were inside not his building

were evacuated by police because they said there was a suspicious package we saw over and this time a couple people tried to storm the fence there were tear gas rubber bullets now on this side of the capitol they've moved and i'm dr carver robichaux can go in you can see they're trying to get into the united states capitol never in my lifetime do i think i would feel this there's a line of police officers that are holding them back we saw them through a small fires over here in the yard the fire trucks were called in that ambulances there's a lot of police here there's a lot of police right there you can see holding the line for these trump supporters . all of them unmask demanding to be allowed into the capital a false belief that they can overturn the election and the donald trump can remain in office is a very tense scene obviously we haven't seen any tear gas rubber bullets on this side of the capitol but it is very clear that the police that are here are out numbered no doubt they're calling in reinforcements as we speak let's not forget the national guard was also activated in d.c.

this is a much smaller crowd on this side of the capitol that we saw on the other side of the capitol but again this is what everybody was afraid of when the president started talking about don't let them steal the election they are what they're very very angry and they're trying to get in to do the president's bidding to convince congress that he should be given the election that he lost in a fair and fair election so again when you get out of the way what you see what we're seeing here trumps supporters were waving flags none of them masked i heard one supporter say when the tear gas was on the other side of the capitol let's around. so again we're seeing police there were seen even more police officers move in the line is in tears to be holding but again this is unheard of in the history of the united states of america we see american troops supporters trying to get into the u.s. capitol to disrupt what is normally

a very mundane ceremonial procedure making joe biden the next president of the united states directly these people starting to use force possibly to try to make sure that doesn't happen nothing mundane about the events that we're seeing here patty stay with us i'm going to come back to you in just a few minutes with an update on what is going on but let's just remind the viewers joining us now what is actually going on inside a colorful of this comes as donald trump's republican party is set to lose control of both the presidency and congress but as we. see the fight is not over yet now even congress right now a joint session is underway to certify the presidential election results but republicans have already challenge to joe biden's win in arizona and more arguments are expected while trump has put pressure on vice president mike pence to prevent certification a power the vice president doesn't have meanwhile that the parsing president has been rousing his supporters using

a rally in washington to repeat his unfounded claims of a rigged poll and stolen votes and in georgia the democrats' candidates appear to have clinched the both the states senate seats in a tight runoff pole the 100 seat chamber is the out evenly split handing the casting vote to the incoming vice president and more power to joe biden well the challenges by a small number of republicans in congress could take hours but are unlikely to affect the certification process each objection is the base had by both chambers of congress for up to 2 hours before being accepted or rejected arizona was the 1st state to have its result challenged are there any objections to counting the certificate of vote of the state of arizona that the teller is verified appears to be regular in form an authentic mr vice president i hold those are for america what ferguson does the gentleman from arizona write i rise political for myself and 60

of my colleagues to object to the counting of the electoral ballots from arizona well senior republican and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has criticized his colleagues attempts to challenge by the ins when saying it could do great harm to the country self-government my colleagues requires a shared commitment to the truth. and a shared respect for the ground rules of our system we cannot keep drifting apart into 2 separate tribes with a separate set of facts and separate reality. ok let's go straight to patty kohei now where we can see those demonstrators going inside the building patty what can you see. i can see from here the

line of police officers has broken it's not clear as a protesters are gotten inside the building but they're inching their way closer i'm surprised that i've not seen more police officers respond to the scene but this is as far as they've gotten this is on the back side of the capitol and what they've done is just slowly push this line of police you can see now there on the balcony waving their trunks flags now obviously the capitol hill very heavy doors of undoubtedly that walk but this is an unprecedented scene outside of the u.s. capitol we see trump supporters who truly believe that the election was stolen from them because that is what the president has been saying despite the fact that there's no evidence obviously trying to send the message to the members who is debating inside that they should be afraid they should be afraid because that mass models people are out here chanting slogans and demanding that the free and fair election thrown out this is an unprecedented scene in america 1 there is anger it

is palpable no one is worried a mass in the middle of the titanic and they're basically saying that they are going to surround the capitol building which can only be described as trying to intimidate the members of congress that are inside trying to get them to in essence . overturn the will of the american people so. now we see that they're doing the flash bang which your gas is going to be shortly after that that's what they did on the other side of the capitol again i'm going to be quiet during this take in the scene for a minute in the united states of america the u.s. capitol being surrounded by people who are demanding that democracy die. have a listen. and have my start. robert shelton around over here you can see more of them are coming from the other side of the capitol now apparently getting word that they've gotten to this close and it appears you look at there again this isn't the best and vantage point that there is tear gas now you can see. i'm going to be

quite distinct and take in the scene for a moment because it is pretty unbelievable. again thousands and thousands of trucks supporters descended on the capitol the reason i'm out here and i had been inside the office building is that was actually building right there because from the same running through and said you have to get out now there's a suspicious package they said everybody to the tunnels underneath all this is a fairly shocking situation happening right before our eyes we see more of this pulling up now. what it was the national guard isn't here they've been activated so likely they'll be in there on their way home or police are pulling up. almost show you over here streaming from the other side of the capitol because this is the closest they've gotten to be able to get inside the capitol building this can only be described as pure attempts at intimidating the representatives that are inside

that building right now trying to make sure that joe biden is in fact the next president of the united states and patty the thousands of people there are there to protest against the certification of the presidential election results and president trump himself addressed the crowd a little earlier didn't he remind us what he said. he did he said it was stolen it was rigged and he said any republican lawmaker who doesn't decide to overthrow the election based there they lost their job the next time they had to come out for reelection we've seen about a dozen republican senators say that they are going to challenge the results but the vast majority say this is an counts that that would be. the death of democracy heard that from mitch mcconnell the vice president said he is not going to do. it give me i'm sure i want to apologize for being offended if you heard that of course the person calling me names and saying on line to the people another one of trump's

main slogans but again the vice president says he's not home ultimate object but he is not in no way going to overturn the election so this is a process that's going to play out over several hours but again let's take a look at what we're seeing more police arriving thousands of people trying to make sure that the election of joe biden doesn't proceed even though he won more than 7000000 more votes than donald trump. so far the police have kept them out of the capital they were prepared for this national guard has been activated i've covered a lot of events in washington d.c. in my lifetime i can't say that i ever saw this many police at one spot ever before the daschle says things are tense and. and obviously these people feel like this this time has come to an end this is their final stand today after this there's no way that donald trump stays in office they're trying to send a message to the people inside this building that they don't want to see that

happen practical haina just outside capitol hill pat you know you'll be monitoring all developments outside for us for the moment though thank you. well as patty was mentioning earlier i defiant donald trump told his supporters in washington d.c. that he will never concede november's presidential election he also urged vice president mike pence not to certify joe biden's win in his role presiding over the joint meeting of congress. and i hope mike is going to do the right thing i hope so i am i hope so because if by defense does the right thing we win the election all vice president current says to do is send it back to the states to recertify and we become president and you are that are used the president addressing the crowds there a little earlier when john hendren joins us live now from washington d.c.

john it looks quieter where you are than where patty was tell us what's going on and what you've been seeing. the white house were. all going from this. they all. left there and they marched to the capitol states. in order. standing. many thousands in any case. they should not. exactly.

as the vice president of the united states. the 1st time in american history. people. from all over the country. have. is that. they have.

a president. not the case that joe biden has won and does that hold any sway with the people that you spoke to or do they just believe what the president says. well the people who are here are the committed these are people who came out in the holiday season many of them flying out paying for expensive hotel rooms here these are the committed one they have been listening to the president the theme of the march was stop the steel that is the alleged faffed of the u.s. election despite the fact that all the lawsuits 50 or so that the president's team has launched have been thrown out the people returned to believe the election was stolen that there is widespread voter fraud despite the lack of evidence for that so. no i would say the people that we have spoken to here are. believe or is that

something nefarious happened here and they are determined to stop that. despite the fact that authorities in the states that federal authorities with members of transit obama administration who said that this was a secure election these people here simply don't believe it. john hendren with the latest john again we will be crossing to you as the sort of minutes and hours go on just to see what the situation is around capitol hill for the moment john hendren thank you. well the republicans do appear to have lost control of the upper chamber of congress the senate with a democrat candidates on course to win georgia's 2 seats raphael warnock has won the 1st seat ahead of incumbent kelly lefler with 50.6 percent of the vote to 49.4 percent and it's even tighter for the other seat with john asaf currently at

50.2 percent ahead of the incumbent they reproduce on 49.8 percent. well democratic candidate john also if has the clear victory with a narrow lead despite the race being too close to call georgia thank you so much for the confidence that you've placed in me i am honored honored by your support by your confidence by your trust and i will look forward 'd to serving you in the united states senate with integrity with humility with honor and getting things done for the people of georgia thank you so much well ruffled warnock is making history by becoming the 1st the black senator from georgia. or into the senate. to work for georgie. no matter who you cast your vote for in this election in this moment in american history. washington has

a choice to make and all of us have a choice to make. will we continue to divide. the strat and this out of one another when we love our neighbors as we love ourselves. to go back now to pass go hang whose just outside the capitol hill past the let's just remind the viewers joining us right now the proton protesters breached security barricades around the u.s. capitol and the climb structures built for the biden. gratian so you witnessed all of that happening tell us what's going on now. i did and i want to tell you i'm outside because the building i was in was evacuated very quickly because of a suspicious package there's a huge police presence here given that there was protests on the other side of the capitol we saw what we thought was tear gas can really smell it look like tear gas people try to get the fence bigger crowd swarm over here to get out of the way to

show you what we're seeing they started out in the park over here to the right of me and then they quickly started escalating towards the steps for about 5 maybe 10 minutes time there was a line of police that really keep them back but that line fell and you see now these people these trump supporters have gone all the way to the front door of the united states capitol so far it has been people old we did see some tear gas was was deployed but other that we haven't seen very many math arrests were not seen a massive police presence descending on the capitol but looking at the scene and i think it's important from a historical perspective we have never before in the history of this country seen and come president or even anyone at a candidate for president not only. here you can feel action but say that it was stolen his supporters believe him this they say is their last stand they're coming

to the capital they want to send the message and the president said today u.s. vice president my plans to send back the certified electors that have been sent to the capitol that are going to be counted in within the coming hours of today officially making joe biden the president people are trying to tell the message to . people that they don't want that this is pure intimidation these huge numbers of people trying to get into the united states capitol when what should be a routine procedure really a remarkable scene. and patty let's just remind our viewers actually the u.n. the u.s. senate has been put on an abrupt recess obviously during that the bait the debate that was taking place to certify idea let's roll the college result so because of what's going on outside the debate inside has been stopped which perhaps is no surprise apache i guess obviously we knew that thousands of pro trance supporters

were going to gather around capitol hill today because of the debate taking place what can you tell us about police security and how prepared they were for this for what potentially could happen did happen. well this is the 3rd pro trump rally that d.c. has seen since the election the last one actually was violent 4 different people were stabbed they expected that this would be much more tense because the president knows this is his last stand after today there's very virtually no path for him to maintain the office and stay in the white house so there is intense security uncovered i've covered a lot of a lot of white house about a lot of inaugurations a whole lot a lot of her state of union speeches. never before seen anything like this level of security at capitol hill which you know the national guard has in fact been activated we are seeing more and more police come. out now you can see

a look over here this is the other side of the capitol the police aren't stopping them they're not stopping them from trying to get closer to the front door that is likely because those doors are pretty secure but we are starting to see more police coming up on. the right here rob you can see van full of police officers this is the route for her i would expect that somewhat different from pushing them back. 9 because obviously this is an untenable situation but that from what you can see and i appreciate it's a little way away and can you see any clashes between police and protesters. no i haven't and yes i am a little bit farther away because well you know how they feel about the media probably not a really good idea for me to my photographer to go and hang out inside there but no it doesn't look like it looks like just are here sure force they've been able to

push the police back but really get out of the way to as you can see those are vans and van full of police officers more trump supporters going to the other side of the capitol that perhaps side of the capitol. let me see the fire trucks as shown up because they did in germany set a garbage can i could really tell and fire that was set out i was in an ambulance to a protester that didn't look like there was a spider of any kind we have been any violent other than the forces pushing police back. from the capitol steps but i think it's important to take a moment and talk about how incredibly remarkable this is the united states of america what should be just a pro forma session has turned into a showdown between americans and the people who feel it's new project the. truth capital. has her hang with the latest outside capitol hill patti stay safe and well last cross live to you again at the coming. hours now let's go to she had

her tassie joins us live at the white house says she had. sort of seen some of the pictures and heard reports it's pretty shocking images really what do you make of what's happening right now and congress i think i will i be able to get some of the more official response is actually we understand now that the capitol is under official lockdown for such the proceedings that were going on that we were sharing have now been put into recess because of the danger of the protesters breaching the barricades and approaching the capitol you know this is a particular interesting thing that just crossed that i just saw. some junior has just tweeted this is wrong i'm not who we are be peaceful and use your 1st amendment rights but don't start acting like the other side we have a country to save and this doesn't help anyone to put that tweet into context what we've been watching here all morning is donald trump outside the white house at the

ellipse urging his followers to go and demonstrate capital which is fine that is their 1st amendment rights but it is interesting because they did suggest several times that he would join them god and watch and watch the proceedings he did not do that he's actually currently in the white house we understand which is interesting but clearly a very a speech about betrayal that donald trump gave in which he he went through rather laboriously all of what he said rule the electoral floors in the presidential election and you the georgia senate runoff and he went through a list of the people that whose career he felt that he had built up in the political the political scene and the judicial scene in washington d.c. and how they betrayed him he talked of mike pence a great deal that it was up to mike pence now to effectively save democracy just before proceedings began there mike pence released. the statement released a statement that he sent to the rest of congress saying he would not in his opinion he would not break the constitution by a he said basically look he does not believe the founding fathers intended for the

vice president to have unilateral control over the elections of america which when you think about it makes sense because then the vice president could could not fire electoral electoral votes all of the time then we had a succession of speeches in the house in the senate notably mitch mcconnell who talked of how shocked he was that america was descending into tribalism and and hatred we cannot keep drifting apart into 2 separate tribes with 2 separate realities and nothing in common except hostility for each other clearly that's that's also a bit like the donald trump getting a certain amount of attention given that let's recall has a going back to that period of of division there's no doubt about that it is interesting there that he's now making the school for bipartisanship in the brotherhood of man just as it seems he's about to become the senate minority leader and then on the senate majority leader off of the georgia senate runoff but there are only as these rather interesting bubbling elements here politically away from

capitol hill just in the tweets and in the statements from from people and many of those who have been very much part of the movement that is manifesting itself outside the capitol right now who are now expressing shock at what what is actually happening i was just thinking it reminded me of that line from casablanca when inspector rhino gambling does i'm shocked with his gambling occurring in here and you're getting that sense from some of the the republican voices now who are speaking out against the bill i think what you can say and kind of mobile who's broken through the barrier is. that there are expressing a complete shock that it's come come to this i think also i have to say patti was talking about the police presence we have covered a lot of police protests here in d.c. i guess here at the white house the ones where you are in a position where we're probably in the safest place and that the that the trouble is. like the storm the barricades here but in the polls we've seen removers police presence and we know the national guard have been called up and you do wonder where

they all are because certainly when we were covering all the black clubs not the protests just over that for example you would see masses and it's not as if the tribes supporters made any secret about what they were planning to do today and yet there has been a very light presence specially in comparison to the black lives not the protests that we covered exhaustively in the summer so there are some there are also these questions too about how exactly i want your planning was involved in in what was clearly a stated objective of the trump protest is to to make their presence rather wildly felt on capitol hill yeah and it's interesting i don't think we've actually heard from president trump in the past half hour or so so we just to see what he'll say if and when we do hear from him via twitter i'm sure the white house she had thank you. or break a brew and a is a former u.s. diplomat and was director of global engagement in the white house and the president obama he joins us now via skype from washington d.c.

as thank you for having having us thank you for joining us prettiest extraordinary scenes there capitol hill what do you make of them. no i'm just watching them here along with your viewers and i have to say it is a shocking dain america i never thought i worked in that building when i was 16 years old as a congressional page writing never thought that i stormed by protesters the way we are right now and a done by a president who lost an election i mean this is just not american democracy and you've heard the words in the last hour from soon to be minority leader mitch mcconnell and other republican leaders trying to appeal for contracting to appeal to the values in the ideals that are so new to the fabric of our nation but right now that fabric is strained and tearing and just a few hours ago we had the president to address those crowds the crowds that of

course were called by home to protest the certification of joe biden's election and that is exactly what he specifically asked them to delimit how responsible do you think the president himself is for the sins that we're watching it is downright dangerous and we're seeing it play out right now on our television screens in here on the streets of washington d.c. i mean it is a a mob mentality that the president deployed and he called it he is of course to washington he fit the bill the anger in with lots of disinformation about who was responsible for his loss and now those protesters who are at this doorstep of the united states congress.