ISTANBUL

The storming of the US Capitol building by supporters of American President Donald Trump showed that the country is no different from others, UN’s former special envoy for Libya said Thursday. 

“Trump would almost undermine his country's institutions. Perhaps a civil war could begin,” Ghassan Salame said on Twitter. “This person received the votes of 60 million people two months ago. A long and deep American crisis.”

Kuwaiti politician and academic Abdallah Al- Nafisi dwelled on the possibility that events Wednesday in Washington may be the historical beginning of the collapse of federalism in the US.

“Could Trump be someone who caused a radical change in America, as Boris Yeltsin did in the Soviet Union in 1991? Will developments in Washington affect the Arabian Gulf?,” he asked rhetorically on Twitter.

Saudi Arabian academic Khalid Al-Dakhil described the chaos as “a price paid due to the political system that brought Trump to the presidency.”

Remarks by Arab politicians and academicians were made after hundreds of pro-Trump protestors stormed the building and ensuing violence resulted in the deaths of four people.

More than 50 people have been arrested and dozens of injuries were reported.

Trump and his political allies have for months alleged that the election was rigged and nothing but “fraud.”

* Writing by Zehra Nur Duz in Ankara