Trump vows to ‘liberate’ LA, warns protests at military parade will be met with force
In a speech at one of the biggest US military bases, the president called demonstrators ‘animals’ and LA protests a ‘foreign invasion’
04:36
Trump vows to ‘liberate’ Los Angeles as protests spread to other major US cities
US President Donald Trump used a speech honouring soldiers on Tuesday to defend his decision to deploy troops to Los Angeles in a confrontation over his immigration policy, a move critics have decried as a politically motivated overreaction.
“Generations of Army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third-world lawlessness,” Trump told soldiers at the US Army base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
“What you’re witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and on national sovereignty, carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags,” Trump said, adding his administration would “liberate Los Angeles”.
Trump’s visit to Fort Bragg, home to some 50,000 active-duty soldiers, followed his move to deploy 700 Marines and 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles in an escalating response to street protests over his immigration policies.
The Republican president said the military deployment was needed to protect federal property and personnel. California’s Democratic-led government has sued to block Trump’s move, calling it an abuse of power and an unnecessary provocation.