The mayor of Minneapolis has accused Donald Trump of shirking responsibility and chided the president for insulting him on social media at a time of crisis in his city and the country.
Protests have erupted across the country over the killing of George Floyd, a black man, by a white police officer in Minneapolis, that was captured on cellphone video. The city has seen large-scale demonstrations and unrest, as protesters call for the officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck and the three officers who were there during the incident to be criminally prosecuted. Protests, some marred by violence, have also broken out elsewhere in the US.
But, tweeting about an hour after midnight in Washington, Trump launched a Twitter attack on Minneapolis’s mayor, Jacob Frey.
The president wrote: “I can’t stand back and watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right.”
In a second tweet, Trump wrote: “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen … Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!”
Twitter has since hidden the second tweet behind a warning that it violated “Twitter rules about glorifying violence”, fanning the president’s anger toward the social media company.
Frey responded to the attack when a reporter read aloud Trump’s tweets directed at him and the protests. “Let me say this: weakness is refusing to take responsibility for your own actions. Weakness is pointing your finger at somebody else at a time of crisis,” Frey said.
The mayor shook his head when the reporter read that Trump called him a “very weak radical left mayor”.
Frey said: “Donald Trump knows nothing about the strength of Minneapolis. We are strong as hell. This is a difficult time, yes, but you better be damn sure that we’re going to get through this.”
Late on Thursday night, the protests took a dramatic turn as a police precinct was set alight by demonstrators. Police officers working in the precinct fled the building after unconfirmed reports that gas lines had been cut and explosives were in the area. Although no explosions went off in the night, the building continued to burn into the early hours of the morning.
At the press conference, Frey said it was his call to evacuate officers from the building. “The symbolism of a building cannot outweigh the importance of life,” he said.
Frey also denounced the riots that were taking place in the context of the demonstrations.
He said: “What we have seen over the past several hours and past couple of nights is unacceptable. These are banks that people rely on to get cash, grocery stores that people rely on to get food. They are essential to our community.”
Earlier, Frey called on the district county attorney to arrest the officer who suffocated Floyd.
“If most people, particularly people of color, had done what a police officer did late Monday, they’d already be behind bars,” Frey tweeted on Wednesday.
