2020 election: Rival protest groups clash with police and storm voting halls as US awaits knife-edge results

Groups demanding every vote be counted and to stop vote count have gathered across US

Demonstrations demanding that every vote be counted from the presidential election have been marred by confrontations with police and unrest in some cities, as 'stop the vote' protests form outside state counts.

For the second night, protests got underway, with marchers gathering in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Washington, DC, among other cities.

Organised by a coalition of advocacy and protest groups, events were planned dependent on the result of the election, and now have a focus on delivering democracy.

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In New York, what began as a peaceful march of approximately 400 people demanding that vote counting continue in battleground states set off down Fifth Avenue from Midtown Manhattan, but later turned unruly when another group joined protesters.

The Daily News reports that chants of “F*** Trump!”, “F*** Biden!”, and “F*** the police!” were heard, and some marchers clashed with police officers. Garbage was set on fire in Greenwich Village, where a dozen protesters were arrested.

Hundreds gathered in downtown Chicago for a “post-election protest” demanding the ousting of Donald Trump with chants of “count every vote”.

There were similar scenes in Philadelphia as the nation awaits the result of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s vote count. Demonstrators gathered near historic Independence Hall.

Small groups were also reported in Baltimore and Detroit.

Larger planned action is scheduled in Washington, DC, by the group ShutDownDC. Organisers have planned to target institutions “complicity in Trump’s attack on democracy”.

Outside the Maricopa County Elections Department in Phoenix, Arizona, a group of 200 pro-Trump protesters gathered asserting that the election is being stolen from President Trump.

The group was heard to chant “Fox News sucks!” in response to the network calling Arizona for Joe Biden on Tuesday night.

Earlier, some of the group reportedly tried to enter the building pretending to be journalists, but were asked to leave by the sheriff’s department.

In Nevada, a heckler got inside a press briefing about the vote count in Clark County screaming allegations of Democratic election fraud. In Detroit, a group of “stop the count” protesters tried to storm their way into a count at a convention centre.