Trump slams racism

President makes belated statement rebuking hate groups

US President Donald Trump has denounced neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan as criminals and thugs, bowing to mounting political pressure to condemn such groups explicitly after a white-nationalist rally turned deadly in Virginia.

Mr Trump was assailed from across the political spectrum for failing to respond more forcefully to Saturday’s violence in Charlottesville.

The head of one of the world’s biggest drug companies quit a presidential business panel as a result, saying he was taking a stand against intolerance and extremism.

Critics slammed Mr Trump for waiting too long to address the bloodshed, as well as for initially saying that “many sides” were involved, instead of singling out the white supremacists widely seen as sparking the melee. Several senators from his own Republican party had harsh words for him.

After 48 hours into the biggest domestic challenge of his young presidency, Mr Trump tried to correct course.

“Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans,” the president said in a statement to reporters at the White House on Monday.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence.”

A 20-year-old man is facing charges after he ploughed his car into protesters opposing the white nationalists, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 people. The accused, James Fields, was denied bail on Monday.

In further unrest on Monday, protesters in North Carolina cheered as they toppled a nearly century-old statue of a Confederate soldier at a rally against racism.

Activists in Durham brought a ladder up to the statue and used a rope to pull down the monument.

Seconds after the monument fell, protesters began kicking the crumpled bronze monument that had been dedicated in 1924.