Trump: injured protester may have faked it
President suggests 75-year-old man’s fall at hands of police was ‘set up’ as George Floyd laid to rest
DONALD TRUMP suggested a 75-yearold man shoved to the ground by police while attending a protest for George Floyd was a Left-wing “provocateur” as the Floyd family laid their son to rest in Houston.
Police in Buffalo, upstate New York, had initially claimed Martin Gugino “tripped and fell”, but later launched an internal investigation after video of the incident went viral.
The US president suggested in a tweet yesterday morning that the scene could have been a “set-up” orchestrated by anti-fascist (Antifa) activists, though he could not provide any support for the claim. “I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set-up?” the president wrote.
Two officers in riot gear caught in the footage pushing Mr Gugino, a retired database worker, to the ground, where he lay heavily bleeding on the pavement, have pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault.
Their 57 fellow officers on the emergency team have resigned from the unit in solidarity with the two officers. The conspiracy theory was first floated on One America News, a conservative channel watched by Mr Trump.
Kelly Zarcone, a lawyer for Mr Gugino, who is still in hospital in serious but stable condition, responded to Mr Trump’s tweet, saying:
“There is no need to go around name calling, accusing people of being things they’re not. Martin has always been a peaceful protester, I don’t know where that comes from.” Mr Gugino’s friends have described him as a long-time peace activist involved in anti-racism and anti-nuclear activism.
John Washington told The Washington Post that he is known as someone who “always shows up” at protests in Buffalo. “He’s been at every important protest in Buffalo in the past 10 years,” said Mr Washington.
Byron Brown, the mayor of Buffalo, justified the officers’ conduct during a Friday news conference where he referred to Mr Gugino as an “agitator”. Mr Brown said the elderly man had been a “key and major instigator” of looting and vandalism.
Mr Trump has looked to blame Antifa, an amorphous Leftist and anti-fascist movement, for the unrest in cities across America.
He tweeted last week he wanted to designate the group a terrorist organisation. According to an Associated Press analysis of court records, rather than being outside agitators, more than 85 per cent of those arrested by police were local residents.
The development came as family and friends of Mr Floyd gathered in his home town of Houston, Texas, yesterday to pay their final respects to the 46-year-old, who was killed two weeks ago by a Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck during his arrest.
Among the guests were Sylvester Turner, Houston’s mayor, actor Jamie Foxx and Floyd Mayweather, the boxer, who covered the family’s funeral costs.
Mr Floyd will be laid to rest with his mother, Lacendra, known as “Sissy”, at Houston Memorial Gardens in Pearland.
Joe Biden, the Democrats’ presidential nominee, met with the Floyd family in Houston on Monday and gave a video address in which he said: “When there is justice for George Floyd, we will truly be on our way to racial justice. America has no choice but to do better.”
He said that he chose not to attend yesterday’s service because he did not want his bodyguards to cause any disturbance.
The Rev Al Sharpon, the civil rights activist, addressed the growing protests around the world.
Citing the statue of slave trader Edward Colston, which was torn down in Bristol, he said: “I’ve seen grandchildren of slavemasters tearing down a slavemaster statue over in England and put it in the river.
“I pour out my spirit among all flesh.”