Prosecute those damaging national monuments: Don
US Prez order makes it a punishable offence with up to 10 years in jail
Washington, June 27: US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to prosecute those who damage national monuments, making it a punishable offence with up to 10 years in jail.
The order comes in the wake of rioters defacing and destroying historical sites, monuments and statues in the country as violence erupted following the brutal custodial death of African-American George Floyd on May 25.
The president has accused radical left for the violence. Trump, in a strongly worded executive order on Friday, said: “My administration will not allow violent mobs incited by a radical fringe to become the arbiters of the aspects of our history that can be celebrated in public spaces.”
“Many of the rioters, arsonists and left-wing extremists who have carried out and supported these acts have explicitly identified themselves with ideologies — such as Marxism — that call for the destruction of the United States system of government,” he said.
Under the order, the federal government is directed to prosecute any person or entity that damages or defaces religious property and withhold certain federal support from state and local governments that fail to protect public monuments, memorials and statues from destruction or vandalism.
“Individuals and organisations have the right to peacefully advocate for either the removal or the construction of any monument. But no individual or group has the right to damage, deface, or remove any monument by use of force,” Trump said. The law authorises a penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment for the willful injury of a federal property.