Tensions Rising in the US as Trump Threatens to Send in the Military
President Donald Trump has threatened to send in the US military to suppress the escalating civil unrest in the United States. He declared that if the states fail to overcome the protests and "defend their residents" he would deploy the army which would "quickly solve the problem for them".
Demonstrations have so far encompassed more than 75 cities in the US. In St Louis, Missouri, four policemen were shot and injured by a protester on Monday night.
The rallies began after a video was distributed of George Floyd being detained in Minneapolis on 25 May as a white police officer continued to kneel on his neck despite Floyd stating he couldn't breathe. The officer in question, Derek Chauvin, has ‘been charged with third-degree murder and will appear in court next week’, writes the WP. Three other accomplice officers have been released from duty.
President Trump said that "all Americans were rightly sickened and revolted by the brutal death of George Floyd" adding that his memory must not be "drowned out by an angry mob". The President labeled the sights of looting and violence in the capital’s streets as "a total disgrace, […] I'm 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," he said.
Trump ordered the states to deploy the National Guard, a standby military force that can be ordered to interfere in domestic difficulties, "in sufficient numbers that we dominate the streets". After the order, around 16,000 troops were deployed. Trump further asserted that "If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary... then I'll deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them."
President Trump's warnings were met with criticism from the Democrats. Joe Biden, the opposition party's presidential candidate for the 2020 race, stated that Trump "[was] using the American military against the American people".