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Thousands take to streets of U.S. in celebration of Biden victory
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Thousands take to streets of U.S. in celebration of Biden victory
WASHINGTON/PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Days of pent-up post-election anxiety gave way to spontaneous street celebrations as Joe Biden supporters on Saturday cheered news of his presidential win with a cacophony of banging pots and pans, honking horns and dance music in cities across the United States.
Rallies by hundreds of supporters of Republican President Donald Trump, who insisted on Saturday "this election is far from over," were more muted in size and scope compared with the festive crowds that turned out by the thousands in some cities for Biden.
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While there were some isolated confrontations between Trump and Biden supporters, as occurred between two opposing groups of about 100 each in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, there were no immediate reports of violence or other unruly behavior.
After a nerve-wracking four-day wait for results after polls closed on Tuesday, the reaction to news that Pennsylvania and its 20 Electoral College votes had carried Biden over the line was almost instantaneous.
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Minutes after major television networks called the race in the former vice president's favor, throngs of people - most wearing masks to curb the spread of COVID-19 - streamed to the White House to rejoice outside a security fence as the sound of fireworks boomed in the distance.
"I was on the bus and I jumped off the bus to come right down here to the White House," Washington resident Donna Thomas said. "It is something to celebrate. We have been waiting so long."
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Duane Fitzhugh, 52, a teacher celebrating outside the Trump International Hotel, on Pennsylvania Avenue blocks from the White House, compared the moment to the lifting of an evil spell.
"It's like a pall fell over the country four years ago, and we've been waiting years for it to end," he said.