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Night has fallen in Washington, and speeches marking the anniversary of the attack on Congress are wrapping up.

The day began with Biden condemning Trump for his "web of lies" about the 2020 vote that led to the violence at the Capitol.

Top Democrat Nancy Pelosi led lawmakers on Capitol Hill in a moment of silence, and expressed hope that Americans would turn to their “better angels”.

Most Republicans left Washington, and accused Democrats of politicising the attack. The day ended with a prayer and candlelit vigil.

Today's reporting was by Sam Cabral, Bernd Debusmann, Robin Levinson-King, Sophie Williams and Max Matza.

Image source, Getty Images

We've heard a lot today about the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a law that Democrats are proposing to require states with a history of discriminatory voting laws to obtain federal approval before enacting changes to election laws or practices.

Last November, the law failed to pass the Senate for a fourth time that year amid overwhelming opposition from Republicans.

Earlier today Vice-President Kamala Harris, who broke barriers last year as the first black woman to hold that office, tweeted her support for the bill.

"We cannot sit on the sidelines. We must unite in defence of our democracy," she wrote.

Next week Biden will travel to Atlanta - where Lewis was from - to give a speech calling for the act to be passed.

He has hinted that he may opt for the radical step of ending the filibuster, a rule that requires 60 votes for legislation to pass the Senate. Republicans have warned of a “scorched-earth” response should Democrats go there.

Democrats are also hoping to pass the Freedom to Vote Act, which would establish national standards for postal and early voting.

The BBC has asked ordinary Americans from around the country how they see the 6 January attack today.

"When you think things can't get any worse, this happened? What a way to start the new year!" That's what Rom thought as he watched the chaos unfold one year ago.

A former US Marine who twice voted for Donald Trump, Rom is among a minority of Republican voters who accept the 2020 election results and view Joe Biden as the legitimate president.

He strongly disapproved of the riot at the US Capitol and says political violence is unacceptable in a representative democracy like the US, but he does not assign any blame to Trump for what happened, instead calling it the work of "a few bad apples".

Rom is also disappointed that the incident has been "politicised by one side for their own benefit, far more than it needed to be".

"I absolutely was stunned by what happened on January 6, but I was just as stunned throughout 2020 when riots were happening on a nightly basis across the country and nobody was doing anything to stop them," he says.

Image source, Getty Images

Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley recalled the "quintessential heartfelt moment that I was involved with personally" on the day of the riot.

While fleeing the approaching mob, he said he heard congresswoman Pramila Jayapal express concern she was walking too slowly because of the cane she was using that day.

Quigley recalls that another Illinois lawmaker, Brad Schneider, overheard her remark and came back to accompany her, saying: "Then let's all just walk together."

"I was never more proud at that moment to walk alongside any of you. It reminds me that we have to walk alongside and help guide our country away from darkness."

At a vigil outside the Capitol, members of Congress and citizens alike said a silent prayer, while the Baltimore Urban Inspiration Choir sang Amazing Grace.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry of the Episcopal Church said a prayer for the nation as a whole to heal.

"We come before you because we need your help. We need your help in these troubled times. We need your help for this beloved nation," he said.

"We need your help for those who have been traumatised and troubled by the painful events of one year ago and all that has continued since."

Image source, Getty Images

Ohio Congresswoman Joyce Beatty recalled that 6 January was her first day as chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

She said: "I listened as my young staffers called their parents in a state of terror. Asking me, 'Are we going to die? Will we make it out of this alive?'"

She went on to remember the "banging" of a lawmaker on her office door. He was desperately searching for "a place of refuge", she said.

"For hours we waited, we prayed for safety," said Beatty. She added that she was comforted by the presence of congresswoman Val Demings, a police veteran.

Democrats are now holding an outdoor candlelit vigil outside the Capitol building.

The speeches are continuing on a less sombre note than earlier, with Democrats coming to the stage to cheers from the audience.

They are calling for Democratic priorities to be enacted, including a change to voting rules that they argue are urgently needed in light of Trump's efforts to undermine the 2020 vote.

Gary O'Donoghue
Washington Correspondent

The Capitol is largely a Republican-free zone today, but two of the most vociferous outriders for former President Trump were here.

In a small room on the fifth floor of the Cannon Building, 40 of us crammed in with camera crews and photographers to await House members Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz.

They arrived: he in a dark suit, she in a sleeveless dress.

What happened on 6 January last year was something orchestrated by the FBI and the CIA, they claimed.

All was couched in fairly reasonable tones; they didn’t raise their voices, there was no finger wagging.

I raise the case of Robert Scott Palmer. He has the honour of receiving the longest jail term so far from the FBI inquiry (63 months for hurling a fire extinguisher at a police officer). Was he an undercover federal agent, I ask?

"We’re not interested in the facts of individual cases," Gaetz tells me.

"I don’t know about that," says Taylor Greene.

I try a couple more times, but despite spending most of their press conference talking about getting to the facts, these are facts they are not interested in discussing.

Such are the parallel universes that Americans inhabit today - it is difficult to see right now what exactly is holding the nation together.

Image source, Getty Images

California congressman Adam Schiff said he was not focused on the "growing mass of rioters" outside the building last year, because his attention was absorbed by a speech he was preparing to give on the House floor.

"It was not until our leadership was swiftly removed from the chamber and police announced that we needed to take out our gas masks that I understood the full extent of the danger," he said at an event for lawmakers to share their memories of that day.

"When the order came to evacuate, I stayed behind for a while until two Republicans came up to me.

"One of them said: 'You can't let them see you. I know these people. I can talk to these people. I can talk my way through these people. You're in a whole different category.'"

Schiff thanked the police officers who kept lawmakers safe during the riot.

The BBC has asked ordinary Americans from around the country how they see the 6 January attack today.

Simon became a US citizen in 2020 and cast his first vote - reluctantly - for Joe Biden. He felt fear and dread during the Trump years, almost as if he was back in war-torn northern Uganda, where he grew up.

He says the the scale of the Capitol riots should be "shocking for anyone who cares about democracy".

"If people in America do not believe an election is free and fair, what other nations can believe in democracy again?" he asks.

A small-business owner and father of two children, Simon is gravely concerned that what happened a year ago is far from an isolated incident.

"Between social media disinformation and the dissatisfaction among voters, we have folks who live on a different planet right now," he says.

"You cannot govern people who do not believe you are legitimate, and a big faction of Americans do not believe they can be governed by this administration."

US Democrats have been sharing their recollections of the 6 January riot as they mark its anniversary.

Among those who spoke was Washington state Democrat Pramila Jayapal, who recalled preparing to use a cane to “fight back” if she was attacked by the mob.

Jayapal warned that she believes the “danger is still clear and it is still present”.

“Our Democracy is very fragile, and the cult of the ‘big lie’ is still very in action,” she said, referring to unsubstantiated claims from former President Trump that mass voter fraud swayed the 2020 election.

Jayapal added that she believes it is “critically important” those responsible for the riot – including Trump, she said – be held accountable.

Another congresswoman, New Jersey Democrat and long-time Navy veteran Mikie Sherrill, said she witnessed “so many acts of courage” during the riot, including hearing fellow representatives calling their family and behaving with "calm and dignity" as the crowd entered the Capitol.

Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat, remembered moments of chaos as she sheltered with her young aides.

“Reflecting on the moments of terror and tragedy, and a Confederate flag being flown in the United States Capitol, and Capitol Police officers putting their lives at risk for us, I am reminded on the advancements that we’ve made as a nation. Today we stand strong,” she said.

Republican lawmakers were conspicuous by their absence, and none of the party's leaders participated in today's events.

Image source, Getty Images

A number of US lawmakers have named Capitol Police officer Billy Evans as a victim of the 6 January riot – despite the fact he was killed in an unrelated incident in April 2020.

US President Joe Biden, for example, invoked Evans’ name in his speech marking the 6 January anniversary, saying "he lost his life defending the Capitol".

Similarly, Ohio congressman Tim Ryan included Evans on a list of officers who died “in the weeks and months” after 6 January, while Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker said in a statement that Evans and his colleagues' actions on that day “will stand as a shining example of heroism and bravery”.

Evans, however, was killed three months after the 6 January riot when a car crashed into a security barrier and the driver lunged at the officer with a knife.

Here is the BBC's story about the 2 April 2021 attack.

The suspect, a 25-year-old Indiana man, was shot dead.

No police officer was killed on the day of the Capitol riot. Officer Brian Sicknick died of natural causes a day later after suffering two strokes.

Image source, United States Capitol Police.

The BBC has asked ordinary Americans from around the country how they see the 6 January attack today.

As a proud 'Latino for Trump', Gabriel attended the 6 January rally near the US Capitol in "a genuine show of support" for the outgoing president.

He says he went back to his hotel, never saw the riot itself and avoided the area thereafter.

"What I saw were people who were extremely disappointed that Republicans failed them. That's why a lot of people had showed up," he tells the BBC.

"We pride ourselves on being the party of critical thinking, common sense and responsibility. There was a select minority that had no regard for that and expressed some sort of horrible herd mentality," he continues.

Gabriel - a founding member of the New York Young Republicans' Hispanic Caucus - feels that the focus of the past year has been less on justice and more about persecuting Trump supporters.

"People need to stop saying that this is our generation’s 9/11," he stresses.

"The comparison is extremely disingenuous and egregious. Close to 3,000 Americans died on 9/11 and it sparked a 20-year war on terror."

We've heard a lot of praise today from lawmakers for Capitol Police officers, but one congressman is putting his money where his mouth is.

Minnesota representative Dean Phillips has been giving out free lunches to police officers and other Capitol Hill staff members who protected lawmakers during the riot.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Shrai Popat
BBC News, Washington

Erin Little and Trevor Valenti from Rhode Island were working at the same restaurant when rioters seized the Capitol last year. They remember watching the events unfold alongside their patrons in disbelief. “It made everyone around the world think that America is lost,” Valenti said. “I think the world still considers us a laughing stock,” Little added.

Those from further afield spoke to the BBC about America’s place on the international stage as they watched the Capitol riot unfold from their home countries.

Sonia Nussencweig-Hotimsky, visiting Washington from Sao Paulo, Brazil, called the riot “an abuse of democracy” that has emboldened more conspiratorial attacks globally.

And for Nicolas Posada, from Bogota, Colombia, the siege on the Capitol resembled infamous coups that have been seen in Latin America. “The US has always been the country everyone is looking up to,” he said. “But it stopped being that on that day.”

Image source, Reuters

US representatives Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, both vocal Trump supporters, just spoke at an event billed as a "Republican response" to the main events marking today's anniversary.

Gaetz, a Florida congressman, said the riot may have been a “Fedsurrection” incited by federal agents and informants.

They played videos of individuals encouraging the crowd of rioters, questioning why they had not been arrested, and calling for a counter-investigation into federal informants.

The FBI, which is leading the investigation into the Capitol riot, has not so far acknowledged that any of its agents or informants incited or took part in the attack on Congress.

Gaetz and Greene, a Georgia congresswoman, have described the dozens of inmates being held in Washington DC’s jail in connection with the riot as “political prisoners”.

Speaking on a podcast hosted by former Trump strategist Steve Bannon earlier in the day, Gaetz said the ex-president's supporters “are ashamed of nothing” and “proud of the work” on 6 January 2021.

The BBC has asked ordinary Americans from around the country how they see the 6 January attack today.

James is a lifelong Republican who refused to vote for Donald Trump. His vote for Joe Biden in 2020 was the first time he ever cast his presidential ballot for a Democrat.

After watching the siege at the Capitol unfold on national television, he wrote to his local Republican Party, begging them to condemn what had happened.

"Your committee is in part responsible for the violence," his letter said.

"If you still believe the Trump disinformation, then you should go join a proper cult instead of continuing to destroy the Republican Party from within."

For James, the shock from a year ago has not dissipated and he fears that more violence may come.

"There's a shift in the country with all the misinformation that is promulgated on the internet," he tells the BBC.

He hopes his party will stop listening to Trump and "the madness will end at some point".

"These things go in cycles. The current situation is just so crazy it can't maintain itself."

Image source, Getty Images

One of those who died in the riot was Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed woman who was shot by police while trying to storm the House of Representatives.

Her mother has been seen speaking to conservative media outlets outside of Congress.

"She was a patriot. She served this country her whole adult life," Micki Witthoeft told the Alabama-based Right Side Broadcasting Network.

Babbitt, a US Air Force veteran, "came to DC to hear Donald Trump speak about a stolen election", Witthoeft said.

"She felt like that was her last time to hear him speak. Little did we know that'd be her last time to hear anybody speak after she was murdered by a careless, reckless Capitol Police officer."

"My daughter was publicly executed," she added, with Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene by her side.

Babbitt, who operated a pool cleaning business in California, was not the only person to die that day.

Two others died from natural causes related to cardiovascular disease and another succumbed to a drug overdose.

Image source, Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump has released a second statement to follow up on one he made shortly after President Biden's morning speech.

This latest continues to focus on unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election.

"To watch Biden speaking is very hurtful to many people," the statement begins. "They're [the Democrats] the ones who tried to stop the peaceful transfer with a rigged election."

Using Biden's words from this morning, Trump accuses Democrats of spreading a "web of lies" about suspected Russian meddling in 2016, the election he won against Hillary Clinton.

He says Americans are "aggrieved" because of inflation, the Afghan pull-out, and rising crime.

"America is a laughingstock of the world, and it's all because of the real insurrection," Trump says, calling for voters to "work with me to fix this horror that Joe Biden and the Democrats have brought us".

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

Few better exemplify the shifting attitudes of Republican politicians toward Donald Trump since 6 January, from criticism to renewed embrace, than House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

The man who hopes to become House Speaker if Republicans take control of the chamber next January condemned the then-president in the days after the 6 January attacks. Now he claims Trump as a close ally – one whose support probably will be essential if McCarthy wants to realise his political ambitions.

It took some time for most Republicans to come to the realisation that if they wanted to stay in the good graces of the rank-and-file of their party - and advance their political careers - they would have to continue to stand by the former president. A year after the Capitol attack, however, that understanding appears to have fully set in, as one by one Trump's critics have changed their tune or been ushered out of power.