WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump vowed to order a military crackdown on violent protests escalating across the United States.
The president said he was sending thousands of troops onto the streets of the capital and threatened to deploy soldiers to states unable to regain control.
The escalation came a week after the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was killed when a white police officer knelt on his neck. This lead to the worst civil unrest in decades in New York, Los Angeles and dozens of other American cities.
Trump was being criticised for his silence on the worsening crisis, and struck a martial tone in a nationwide address as police fired tear gas on peaceful protesters outside the fence.
“I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults and the wanton destruction of property,” Trump said. He slammed the unrest in Washington and called on governors to “dominate the streets.”
“If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them,” he said, denouncing “acts of domestic terror.”
Despite the president’s rhetoric, the protests appeared largely peaceful in major cities, though some looting was reported in New York and Los Angeles.
Law enforcement agencies including military police used tear gas to clear protesters outside the White House so the president could walk across the street to a nearby church hit with graffiti and partially damaged by fire during unrest.
Trump stood before the church’s boarded-up windows, held up a Bible and posed for photographs and declared: “We have a great country.”
Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden reacted to the president’s action. “He’s using the American military against the American people,” he tweeted “He tear-gassed peaceful protesters and fired rubber bullets. For a photo. For our children, for the very soul of our country, we must defeat him,” he said.
Thousands of people have participated in the nationwide demonstrations against police brutality and racism since Floyd’s killing. Many of the demonstrations have been peaceful.
More than 40 cities have imposed curfews after consecutive nights of tension. Looting took place in New York on Monday night while police said they had arrested hundreds across the city. After widespread looting in Manhattan, New York mayor Bill de Blasio said a curfew would be imposed in the city.
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