President Trump appeared to condemn out-of-state protesters who are inciting violence in Minneapolis and threatened to unleash the “unlimited power” of the military.
“Crossing State lines to incite violence is a FEDERAL CRIME! Liberal Governors and Mayors must get MUCH tougher or the Federal Government will step in and do what has to be done, and that includes using the unlimited power of our Military and many arrests,” Trump tweeted.
The threat comes as protests over the killing of George Floyd turned violent across the country.
Protests also broke out in Washington, D.C., close to the White House on Friday evening, prompting a brief lockdown of the building.
Video went viral this week of a white police officer pinning down Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed black man, for several minutes. In the footage, Floyd could be heard pleading for air, but the officer, Derek Chauvin did not remove his knee from Floyd’s neck.
Floyd was pronounced dead 90 minutes after his arrest.
Protests have been violent in several cities, with the most intense demonstrations taking place in Minneapolis. Earlier this week, a police station was burned to the ground in the Midwestern city.
However, curfews were called in the Twin Cities to try to blunt the destruction that had already impacted several local businesses.
St. Paul, Minn., Mayor Melvin Carter (D) said Saturday that all of the protesters who were arrested in his city on Friday were from out of state.
“As I talk to my friends who have been in this movement for a very long time, who wake up in this movement every day, and I ask them what they’re seeing, what they’re feeling, what they’re hearing, to a person, I hear them say, ‘We don’t know these folks. We don’t know these folks who are agitating. We don’t know these folks who are inciting violence. We don’t know these folks who are first in to break a window,’” he said.
Trump has repeatedly urged Democratic officials in Minnesota, including the state’s governor and Minneapolis’s mayor, to get “tough” on the protests.
The president sparked controversy earlier this week when he tweeted that “when the shooting starts, the looting starts,” appearing to threaten to shoot demonstrators. He later attempted to clarify his remarks on Twitter.