Biden blames president’s bible stunt for ‘fanning flames of hate’
Peaceful White House demonstrators tear-gassed and forced back to create a photo opportunity
JOE BIDEN yesterday accused Donald Trump of fanning the “flames of hate” as Democrats condemned the dispersal of peaceful protests near the White House with tear gas so the US president could pose for photographs.
The party’s presumptive candidate for the November election called Mr Trump incompetent and self-absorbed, saying: “His narcissism has become more important than the nation’s wellbeing that he leads.”
Former military leaders, church figures and politicians across the world also voiced criticism, but Republican senators largely sided with their president over his hardline approach to ending nationwide protests.
An eighth day of protests followed the death of George Floyd, the black American who died after his neck was crushed under the knee of a white police officer. Peaceful protests had again been overshadowed by looting and violent clashes with police. New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Detroit were among more than 140 cities to see demonstrations, with 40 curfews in place. Episodes of extreme violence emerged. In Las Vegas, an officer was shot in the head and left on life support. In St Louis, Missouri, four officers were hit by gunfire. Police used tear gas, rubber bullets and truncheons to control crowds across the country.
But the president’s actions also made headlines. Mr Trump, delivering his first on-camera comments about the demonstrations in 48 hours, declared himself a “law-and-order” president as he spoke from the White House’s Rose
Garden on Monday. The president warned that if governors failed to stop the violence then “I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them”. Vowing to “dominate the streets”, he said: “We will end it now.” Around the time Mr Trump was calling himself “an ally of all peaceful protesters” on one side of the White House, on the other a line of policemen advanced on demonstrators. They fired tear gas and threw flash grenades, sending protesters – who were demonstrating peacefully – scrambling back and choking. There were screams when the explosions went off. One protester told The Daily
Telegraph: “The first thing I did was panic and run.”
A line of officers in helmets and shields was followed by a second line of police on horseback. The crowds were forced a block away from the top of Lafayette Square, the park just north of the White House. The reason for the sudden advancement became clear as Mr Trump strode out through the park stepping over debris and passing a burnt-out public lavatory covered in graffiti. The destination was St John’s
Episcopal Church, known as the “church of presidents” because Oval Office occupants dating back to James Maddison have attended it. Mr Trump raised a bible in his right hand as he stood before cameramen in front of the church. Asked if it was “your bible” by a reporter, the president replied “a bible”. “We have the greatest country in the world,” Mr Trump said before heading back to the White House. “Going to keep it nice and safe.” The political backlash from the Democrats was almost immediate. “These are not the words of a president. They are the words of a dictator,” said Kamala Harris, the California senator. “Lives and our democracy are in danger,” said Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator. Both hope to be Mr Biden’s vice presidential pick. Washington DC’S mayor, Muriel Bowser, was left infuriated that the police action took place 25 minutes before her 7pm curfew kicked in, when it was still legal to be on the streets demonstrating. “Shameful!” she tweeted.
Later it emerged that religious figures handing out water by the church had been tear-gassed. Gini Gerbasi, the rector of another Washington DC church who was present, described her experience in a Facebook post.
“I was coughing,” she said, describing the chaotic moment officers advanced. “I am shaken, not so much by the taste of tear gas, but by the fact that that show of force was for a PHOTO OPPORTUNITY.”
Mr Biden said of Mr Trump’s bible holding: “I just wish he opened it once in a while instead of brandishing it. If he opened it, he could have learned something. Donald Trump has turned this country into a battlefield driven by old resentments and fresh fears. He thinks division helps him.”
Mr Trump tweeted “silent majority” in apparent reference to his support base and defended the police behaviour.
George W Bush, the former Republican president, issued his first statement on the protests last night.
“Looting is not liberation and destruction is not progress”, he said, while calling for more to be done to end racial injustice in America.