Trump backers fight with marchers demanding he release his tax info
WASHINGTON : Hundreds of supporters and opponents of President Donald Trump clashed in Berkeley, California, leading to arrests as thousands of others calling for him to release his tax returns marched peacefully elsewhere in the US.
Eleven people were injured and 21 arrested in Berkeley on Saturday as supporters of Trump observing Patriots Day and counter-demonstrators, who called themselves anti-fascist, clashed using fireworks, smoke-bombs and pepper spray.
President Trump lashed out at the tax-day protestors on Twitter on Sunday. “I did what was an almost an impossible thing to do for a Republican-easily won the Electoral College! Now Tax Returns are brought up again?” he wrote in one post.
He followed that up with another tweet that disparaged protestors as he has done before, accusing them of being paid: “Someone should look into who paid for the small organised rallies yesterday. The election is over!”
Trump is the first president in 40 years to not release his tax returns. He first broke a longstanding tradition of White House candidates disclosing their tax returns, claiming, wrongly, he couldn’t because he was being audited.
April 15 is the annual deadline for filing tax returns in the US, thus the Saturday protests around as well as outside Mar-aLago, his luxury resort in Palm Beach, Florida where he has as on most weekends since his election.
The tax-day protests were largely peaceful elsewhere.
Clashes took place in Berkeley where Trump supporters were to march observing Patriots Day, that attracted hundreds of protestors.