US Capitol Rioters held dagger to throat of America - Biden

Capitol rioters getty images via BBC

President Joe Biden has said rioters who stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 "held a dagger at the throat of America and American democracy".

In a televised speech marking the first anniversary of the events, Mr Biden said they came "in rage", and "in the service of one man".

He accused his predecessor Donald Trump of spreading "a web of lies" that led to the attack on the Congress building.

Investigators have so far arrested 725 suspects in connection with the riot.

"Those who stormed this Capitol and those who instigated this incidence, held a dagger at the throat of America and American democracy", Mr Biden said in Statuary Hall, a section of the Capitol complex that was breached by rioters.

"They came here in rage, not in the service of America, but rather, in the service of one man.

"The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election... His bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our constitution", he added.

On 6 January 2021, Trump supporters stormed the building as Congress was meeting to certify Mr Biden's presidential election victory. Images of US lawmakers cowering from the mob in the gallery of the House of Representatives on that afternoon shocked the world.

Mr Trump had urged protesters at a rally outside the White House shortly beforehand to "peacefully" march on Congress, but he also encouraged them to "fight" and stirred up the crowd with unsubstantiated claims of mass voter fraud in the election he had just lost.

The former president released an angry statement hitting out at his successor shortly after Mr Biden's speech. In it, he accused Mr Biden of "failure" and repeated false claims about the election.

Several other events are planned by Democrats, who have control over the US Congress, to mark the one-year anniversary of the attack.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi presided over a moment of silence on the chamber floor and Senate Democrats took turns to give a series of testimonials.

The longest serving, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, said "to see so much hatred and anger" was deeply disturbing.

Meanwhile, some Republicans plan to skip the day's commemorative events. The party's Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, is leading a delegation to the funeral of a former senator in Atlanta, Georgia.

Florida congressman Matt Gaetz and Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene - two provocative pro-Trump members of the House - will hold a news conference later in the afternoon. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has already accused Mr Biden of "brazen politicisation", of the 6 January riot. – BBC News