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US President Donald Trump said on a visit to Kenosha in Wisconsin that recent protests against police in the city were acts of “internal terror” by violent mobs.
“These are not acts of peaceful protest, but internal terror,” Trump said.
He was describing several nights of angry demonstrations last week after a white police officer in Kenosha shot a black man in the back at point-blank range.
Jacob Blake was shot seven point-blank range while three of his sons watched.
Last week, two protesters were shot and killed after colliding with an armed teenager.
Local leaders had asked Trump to stay away, warning that it could inflame tension.
Crowds lined the barricaded paths along the street where the president’s motorcade was passing, with Trump supporters on one side and Black Lives Matter protesters on the other, shouting at each other across the street. Street.
Under heavy security, Trump visited a burned-out store where he told the owners “we will help them rebuild.”
“These gentlemen did a fantastic job,” he said, pointing to the sheriff’s officers, a reference to the police units that put down the violent protests.
“This is a great area, a great state,” Trump added.
Meeting the Blake family during their high-profile visit was not on the president’s public itinerary, but just before leaving Washington he suggested it was possible.
“I don’t know yet. We’ll see,” he said when asked. “We will be making that determination.”
Trump said tonight that the federal government would provide $ 42 million to support public safety and law enforcement in Wisconsin.
He also said the administration would provide nearly $ 4 million to help businesses damaged by the confusion and $ 1 million to city law enforcement.
Last night, Trump said the 17-year-old accused in the double shooting was trying to escape and would have been killed by protesters had he not opened fire.
“He was trying to get away from them … And then he fell and then they attacked him very violently,” Trump said in a briefing.
“I guess he was in big trouble … They probably would have killed him.”
Kyle Rittenhouse has been charged as an adult with two counts of first degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
His attorney has said he plans to argue in self-defense.
Democrats and advocates of police reform see Kenosha as a symbol of institutional racism.
They see Rittenhouse, a Trump supporter, as an emblem of the right-wing militias that are increasingly brazen about brandishing weapons on political stages and attempting to act like amateur law enforcement officers.
Trump, however, has a different priority: countering what he has repeatedly described as “anarchy” in Democratic-led cities.
But Trump has controversially refused to condemn the growing presence of armed militiamen and vigilantes on the streets, calling the alleged Rittenhouse killings “an interesting situation.”
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