World leaders respond to Capitol riots

Video footage and images of rioters breaking into the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday drew condemnation and shock from other nations. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the scene disgraceful and urged a peaceful transfer of power. Irish Foreign and Defense Minister Simon Coveney took a sterner tone as he called the incident “a deliberate assault on Democracy by a sitting President & his supporters.” In Brazil, Supreme Court Justice Luis Roberto Barroso said he hoped the United States “reacts with vigor to this threat to democracy.”

Any concrete measures from other countries? Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Australians to avoid U.S. protests. The Chinese Embassy in the United States also warned its citizens about the “large scale protest march” as other nations issued travel warnings. Venezuela, which is currently facing U.S. sanctions, used the mob violence to advance its anti-U.S. propaganda, saying the situation in Washington shows the U.S. “is suffering what it has generated in other countries with its politics of aggression.”

Dig deeper: Read Emily Belz’s report on the unprecedented Capitol breach.