Trump calls Black Lives Matter a ‘symbol of hate’

Donald Trump has taken aim at the Black Lives Matter movement calling it “horrible” message and a “symbol of hate”.

The US President Donald Trump has taken aim at Black Lives Matter in a series of tweets, calling the protesters “horrible” and the movement a “symbol of hate”.

Mr Trump lashed out at a new plan to paint a “Black Lives Matter Ave” sign on Fifth Ave in New York City, saying it was “denigrating this luxury Ave”, and calling the Black Lives Matter sign itself a “symbol of hate” which would offend police in the area.

The planned sign, similar to one unveiled in Washington D.C. in early June, will be painted on the road out the front of Trump Tower, according to reports.

In tweets, Mr Trump said police officers had been “neutralised and scorned” by the city’s Mayor Bill de Blasio, who “hates and disrespects them”. Mr Trump then suggested some officers “maybe” might not let it be “affixed to New York’s greatest street”.

....horrible BLM chant, “Pigs In A Blanket, Fry ‘Em Like Bacon”. Maybe our GREAT Police, who have been neutralized and scorned by a mayor who hates & disrespects them, won’t let this symbol of hate be affixed to New York’s greatest street. Spend this money fighting crime instead!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020

The ‘Black Lives Matter Plaza’ near the White House in Washington, D.C. Picture: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Local authorities renamed the street in Washington D.C. Picture: Roberto Schmidt/AFP

Widespread and ongoing protests in the US, which were sparked by the alleged murder of African-American George Floyd in May by white ex police officer Derek Chauvin, who was allegedly aided and abetted by three other officers, have led to calls for wider reform of policing in the US.

The protesters say police brutality and systemic racism is a larger issue within the force.

Demonstrators have also taken aim at monuments and buildings throughout the country named after figures from the Confederate period.

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The Confederate States were an unrecognised republic, which took arms against the United States during the Civil War to try and stop the abolition of slavery.

Mr Trump also tweeted a video from Senate Candidate Mitch McConnell, who refers to protesters as “the mob” and urges people to “fight back”, and praises the country’s “imperfect heroes” from history.

The President also posted a series of videos of statues being torn down, and referred to himself in another tweet as “the lone warrior”.

Over the weekend, Mr Trump was harshly criticised after he tweeted a video of a man in a golf cart chanting “white power” with his fist raised. The President deleted the video a few hours after posting it.

In recent days, media reports have been focused on claims Mr Trump didn’t read a daily media briefing alerting him to reports that Russian operatives paid members of the Taliban to kill US soldiers.

On Twitter, Mr Trump called these reports a “Fake News Media Hoax”.