U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened the nation’s governors that he will deploy the military to states if they do not stamp out violent protests over police brutality this past week.
The president demanded an end to the heated protests in remarks from the White House Rose Garden yesterday and said if governors throughout the country do not deploy the National Guard in sufficient numbers to “dominate the streets,” the U.S. military would step in to “quickly solve the problem for them.”
His announcement came as police under federal command forced back peaceful demonstrators with tear gas, so Trump could walk to a nearby church and pose with a Bible.
My fellow Americans – My first and highest duty as President is to defend our great Country and the American People. I swore an oath to uphold the laws of our Nation — and that is exactly what I will do… pic.twitter.com/pvFxxi9BTR
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 2, 2020
Meanwhile, George Floyd’s brother has pleaded for peace–saying violence is “not going to bring my brother back at all.”
Terrence Floyd made an emotional plea for peace at the site of where his brother was pinned to pavement by an officer, who put his knee on the handcuffed black man’s neck for several minutes, until he died.
Wearing a face mask with the image of his brother’s face on it, Terrence Floyd said his family is “a peaceful family.”
He added, “in every case of police brutality the same thing has been happening. You have protests, you destroy stuff … so they want us to destroy ourselves. Let’s do this another way.”
A medical examiner in Minnesota has classified George Floyd’s death as a homicide due to asphyxia.
We have the greatest country in the world—and we will keep America safe. pic.twitter.com/lqHaUZ4wxW
— The White House 45 Archived (@WhiteHouse45) June 1, 2020