Bitter battle over U.S. House speakership resumes on 2nd anniversary of Capitol riot

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- The bitter battle over the speakership of the U.S. House of Representatives resumed on Friday against the backdrop of the second anniversary of the Capitol riot.

U.S. Congressman Kevin McCarthy from California, the House Republican leader, fell short of the necessary votes to take the speaker gavel in 11 ballots over the past three days, making the contest the longest in 164 years.

The House kicked off the 12th round of voting on Friday afternoon as the historic deadlock drags on, paralyzing the lower chamber three days after the new and divided 118th Congress convened.

"I'm not telling you we have an agreement," McCarthy reportedly said on Friday morning, adding that he and his opponents -- most of them conservative hardliners -- "have meetings."

U.S. Congressman Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, is a leading opponent to McCarthy. His press office dismissed reports that a deal had been reached between the two sides on Friday morning.

"Any agreement will take us ALL," Roy's press aides tweeted. "We are making progress... but don't let the sharks confuse the ongoing engagement."

Earlier in the day, House Democrats and -- reportedly only one Republican -- gathered on the steps of the Capitol, located at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to mark the second anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.

Exactly two years ago, a large group of supporters of outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump violently stormed the Capitol and disrupted a joint session of Congress to affirm the results of the 2020 presidential election in which Democrat Joe Biden won.

Some of the rioters chanted "Hang Mike Pence" while making their way into the Capitol. Pence, then U.S. vice president presiding over the procedure to formally verify Biden's victory, was rushed out of the building by Secret Service agents to a secure location.

Panicked lawmakers took shelter and crouched behind chairs in the House gallery after the chaos broke out and shocked the United States and the rest of the world.

Approximately 140 police officers were assaulted in the worst attack on the U.S. Capitol in more than 200 years to which at least five deaths have been linked. Over 900 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the landmark complex.