Donald Trump wants ‘animals’ who toppled statues jailed, blames Joe Biden
- ‘Put these animals in jail, now’ … ‘This is Biden! Law & Order!’ said Trump in a series of tweets
- Three arrested as hundreds of protesters gathered in the city of Portland for ‘Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage’
Protesters toppled two statues of former US presidents in the western state of Oregon, prompting President Donald Trump to call on Monday for the demonstrators to be locked up and for federal intervention.
“Put these animals in jail, now,” Trump said in a series of tweets after learning of the statues of Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln being felled Sunday night.
“The Radical Left only knows how to take advantage of very dumb ‘leadership’ fools,” he added. “This is Biden! Law & Order!”
The protesters, estimated at about 300 by police, had gathered in the city of Portland – the site of almost nightly anti-racism protests for more than four months – for what was billed as an “Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage” ahead of Columbus Day on Monday.
Similar protests nationwide in recent months prompted by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis, have led to statues of Confederate leaders and other US presidents linked to America’s history with slavery being felled.
Police said the protesters in Portland on Sunday had marched to the Oregon Historical Society where they broke windows and threw three lit flares inside the building which caused little damage.