George Floyd: as protests rage across US, Trump comments inflame tensions
Donald Trump on Saturday belittled some of the protesters who have taken to the streets in cities across the United States, and raised the prospect of deploying violence against the American people for the second time in two days.
Trump on Saturday drew fierce condemnation from the mayor of Washington DC, Muriel Bowser, for using the language of violent segregationists during the civil rights era.
Late on Friday, as protesters gathered in front of the White House, Trump had tweeted that protesters could have been attacked with “vicious dogs and ominous weapons” wielded by the US Secret Service. He also attacked the mayor for supposedly not providing police to protect the White House.
“They let the ‘protesters’ scream and rant as much as they wanted, but whenever someone got too frisky or out of line, they would quickly come down on them, hard – didn’t know what hit them,” Trump said.
Without evidence, the president claimed the protesters were “professionally” organized.
“If they had [breached the fence],” he said, “they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That’s when people would have been really badly hurt, at least.”
Bowser, a Democrat, said that she stood with peaceful protesters while Trump “hides behind his fence”.
“To make a reference to vicious dogs is no subtle reminder to African Americans of segregationists who let dogs out on women, children and innocent people in the south,” Bowser said.
She added: “There are no vicious dogs & ominous weapons. There is just a scared man. Afraid/alone.”
On Saturday, Trump claimed the White House protest “had little to do with the memory of George Floyd. They were just there to cause trouble … Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???”
That was seemingly a call for a counter-protest by his supporters, an event which would be likely to enflame tensions already running high.
Trump also denounced Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, and criticized the abandonment of a police station in the city that was besieged by protesters. He reiterated that he was prepared to intervene, with the military if necessary.
“We have our military ready, willing and able if they ever want to call our military,” Trump said. “We can have troops on the ground very quickly.”
The Department of Defense took the rare step of putting military police units on alert to go to Minneapolis. The Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, had not requested such assistance. On Saturday morning, Walz said he had ordered the largest deployment of state national guard troops since the second world war.
Speaking later in the day at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, Trump slightly changed his tone, announcing a civil rights investigation and painting himself as a supporter of those angered by Floyd’s death.
“I stand before you as a friend and ally to every American seeking justice and peace. And I stand before you in firm opposition to anyone exploiting this tragedy to loot, rob, attack and menace,” he said.
But he also again lashed out at “Antifa and the violent left” whom he blames for protests spreading across the US.
“I understand the pain that people are feeling. We support the right of peaceful protestors and we hear their pleas. But what we are now seeing on the streets of our cities has nothing to do with justice or with peace,” Trump said.
“The memory of George Floyd is being dishonored by rioters, looters and anarchists. The violence and vandalism is being led by Antifa and other radical leftwing groups who are terrorizing the innocent, destroying jobs, hurting businesses and burning down victims.
“Right now, America needs creation not destruction, cooperation not contempt, security not anarchy, and there will be no anarchy. We cannot and must not allow a small group of criminals and vandals to wreck our cities and lay waste to our communities.”
Trump’s comments on Friday and Saturday were his latest potentially inflammatory response to protests which have erupted across the US over the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man who died while being arrested by police in Minneapolis.
A white officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck was charged with murder but violent protests have prompted national guard deployments, raising tensions everywhere.
On Friday, Trump tweeted: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts”, a phrase with racist origins which was censored by Twitter.
Trump claimed he hadn’t known the inflammatory nature of the phrase, let alone had intended to call for violence against his own citizens. He also expressed his “deepest condolences and most heartfelt sympathies to the family of George Floyd”.
Those words were more in keeping with those of Joe Biden, Trump’s presumptive opponent at the polls in November. The former vice-president spoke to Floyd’s family and issued a video address in which he said: “This is no time for incendiary tweets. This is no time to encourage violence. This is a national crisis, and we need real leadership right now.”
Protesters on Friday hurled bricks, bottles and other objects at Secret Service and US park police officers in riot gear behind barricades.
Related: ‘A national crisis’: how the killing of George Floyd is changing US politics
The crowd of hundreds chanted “No justice, no peace” and “Say his name: George Floyd”. The protest went on for several hours before police declared it “unlawful” and ordered everyone to leave. Dozens of officers pushed forward with their shields and fired off streams of pepper spray at protesters. The Secret Service said it made six arrests and “multiple” officers and agents were injured.
On Saturday, there were new protests in the city and demonstrators once again gathered in front of the White House gates. Chanting “I can’t breathe”, “Black Lives Matter” and “Fuck Donald Trump!”, hundreds of demonstrators circled the White House grounds.
Armored Secret Service, along with District of Columbia police and Park police, lined up in front of the protesters. Lafayette Square, the park in front of the executive mansion, was sealed off with steel barriers.
On Saturday evening, protesters overcame the barriers and entered the park but were driven out by police wielding shields, batons and pepper spray. Demonstrators damaged several Secret Service vehicles and threw themselves against officers’ riot shields, the Washington Post reported.
