United States President Donald Trump hit out at the protesters who vandalised various statues during the violent protests that followed after the death of an African-American man George Floyd. Donald Trump was addressing an election rally at Minnesota ahead of the Presidential election that are due in November when he came down heavily on the violent protesters who vandalised several statues across the country.
Trump said that the protestors damaged many statutes including the statues of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. “You know, they started ripping down Abraham Lincoln. When they hit Lincoln, I said wait a minute. This is the man and you can do… then they hit George Washington, Thomas Jefferson. They had everybody”, said Trump.
Describing the violent protestors as thugs, Trump said that they had no idea about what they were doing as they even demolished the statue of Mahatma Gandhi who talked about nothing but peace. “They even had Gandhi. All Gandhi wanted was one thing, peace, right? We have peace. Rip down his statue. We don’t like him. I don’t think they have any idea what they are doing”, he said.
“I think they are just a bunch of thugs, okay. You want to know the truth? I think they are a bunch of thugs”, he added. Donald Trump said that no one will be able to demolish statues now as he has passed an executive order which can land such people in jail for ten years.
Accusing the rioters of ‘ripping down our history, Donald Trump stated, “That’s where these guys begin. The take away your history. You look at the Middle East. You look all over. Look what ISIS did. Look what all of them do. They go down and they go to museums and they break everything and they rip everything. They want to take away your past. They are not taking away the past of the United States of America. Not as long as I’m here.”
In the month of May, George Floyd was allegedly killed after a police officer pinned him to the ground and put his knee ion his neck. Violent protests broke out in the US following his death. Various videos had emerged protestors burning down historical buildings, demolishing statues and even looting stores.
