Donald Trump hits out at DC Police after protesters burn statue of Confederate general

Hitting out at the Washington DC Police on Saturday, US president Donald Trump has claimed that they are doing nothing against the protesters who burned the statue of a Confederate general. Taking to Twitter, Trump tagged Mayor of Washington Muriel Bowser & said that Police are not doing their job and alleged that they watch a statue be 'ripped down & burn'. He opined that those responsible must be immediately arrested and called them a  'disgrace to our Country.' 

Trump was reacting as the Black Lives Protesters in Washington, D.C. burned a statue of Confederate General Albert Pike on Friday while observing 155th anniversary of Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the end of slavery. As per reports, 100 people gathered and toppled the statue and set it on fire. Cheering demonstrators jumped up and down as the 11-foot (3.4-meter) statue of Albert Pike — wrapped with chains — wobbled on its high granite pedestal before falling backward, landing in a pile of dust. Protesters then set a bonfire and stood around it in a circle as the statue burned, chanting, “No justice, no peace!” and “No racist police!” Eyewitness accounts and videos posted on social media indicated that police were on the scene but didn’t intervene. 

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Black lives matter protest

As the Black Lives Matter protest erupted across America, triggered after the killing of Black American George Floyd by a cop, protesters have toppled a number of statues of leaders and political figures who they claim were polarising. Video showed a white police officer pressing his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes as the handcuffed Black man said, “I can’t breathe.” The officer, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with murder.

The Pike statue has been a source of controversy over the years. The former Confederate general was also a longtime influential leader of the Freemasons, who revere Pike and who paid for the statue. Pike’s body is interred at the D.C. headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, which also contains a small museum in his honor.

The statue, dedicated in 1901, was located in Judiciary Square about half a mile from the U.S. Capitol. It was built at the request of Masons who successfully lobbied Congress to grant them land for the statue as long as Pike would be depicted in civilian, not military, clothing.

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