Storming of US Capitol building: How world newspapers are reacting
German newspaper Hamburger Morgenpost described attack in just one word: 'Shame!'
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Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
The world’s media has reacted with shock after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in Washington on Wednesday, with headlines decrying the “chaos” and comparisons to Mussolini.
Four people died, including one woman shot dead inside the Capitol, after pro-Trump rioters descended on the heart of American democracy.
This is how newspapers around the world have reacted, with Covid largely pushed off the front pages.
The Times and The Telegraph in the UK, where prime minister Boris Johnson called the events in DC a “disgrace”, mentioned how both the Capitol and democracy were “under siege” while The Metro and The Express reported “anarchy” in the United States.
Here at The Independent the front page read “Assault on democracy,” adding that the mob was “spurred on” by Trump.
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Elsewhere in Europe there were reports of “chaos” and “shame.”
Italian newspaper, La Repubblica compared Wednesday’s events to those that occurred in 1920s Italy, when dictator Benito Mussolini rose to power.
Maria Platero’s article in the centre-left Italian paper began: "America – all of America – watched on in horror as the equivalent of The March on Rome unfolded in Washington on live television – the invasion of the Capitol, the attack on democracy's sacredness itself."
In France La Libération went with the headline: “Trump’s strategy of chaos,” while Le Figaro described the attack as “Fractured democracy.”
Spanish left-centre leaning El Pais blamed Mr Trump for the events, saying that “Trump instigated a revolt.” Meanwhile in Germany the newspaper Hamburger Morgenpost showed a large image of a rioter and used just one word to condemn the attack: “Shame!”
In South America, Brazlian O Globo self deprecatingly went with the line: "The United States has fallen to the level of Latin American countries."
And several of the South American country’s papers denounced events as “domestic terrorism.”
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