On Friday night, protestors gathered in Judiciary Square in Washington D.C. and toppled the statue of confederate general Albert Pike in Judiciary Square, prompting a frantic tweet from President Donald Trump, calling for the arrest of individuals who took part in the incident.
“The D.C. Police are not doing their job as they watch a statue be ripped down & burn,” Trump tweeted. “These people should be immediately arrested. A disgrace to our Country!”
Trump tagged D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) in the tweet. The president has repeatedly criticized the mayor’s handling of recent protests in the District, reportedly calling her “weak.”
Pike’s statue was the latest to fall, as protestors around the country this week have been taking down statues of Confederate soldiers and other figures who were known to have owned slaves.
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Protests in the country have been going for over three weeks, sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.
Watch the toppling of the statue and Trump’s response below:
And protesters just toppled the Albert Pike statue in DC pic.twitter.com/gEzJm0OYjd
— Perry Stein (@PerryStein) June 20, 2020
The D.C. Police are not doing their job as they watch a statue be ripped down & burn. These people should be immediately arrested. A disgrace to our Country! @MayorBowser
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2020
And Twitter users fired back:
And protesters just toppled the Albert Pike statue in DC pic.twitter.com/gEzJm0OYjd
— Perry Stein (@PerryStein) June 20, 2020
No honey.
You, dear leader are the disgrace to our country.
You've worked do hard for that title & should not be denied it!
After all, it fits so well.
— Kool Karyn (@koolkaryn) June 20, 2020
Imagine the world's biggest disgrace calling you a disgrace.
But here we are.
— Angela Belcamino (@AngelaBelcamino) June 20, 2020
You should be arrested immediately also!
— Bella Lombardo (@BellaLuna468) June 20, 2020
If you can’t understand that good policing sometimes means pulling back , losing a statue to prevent possibly losing lives then I’m glad you are done in November
— ericscorzelli (@ericscorzelli) June 20, 2020
They will never be pulling your statue down that's for sure. The DC police will be doing there job when they arrest you. That day is coming.
— Ray Bilcliff (@raybilcliff) June 20, 2020
You hear that @realDonaldTrump it's the sound of inevitability.
— J Mig III (@jmigiii) June 20, 2020
Sorry, the disgrace is YOU!
— Steve Lenarz (@slenarz43) June 20, 2020
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