Protests Against Trump In New York

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Amid strong protests over his response to the tragic events in Charlottesville, President Donald Trump again blamed "both sides" on Tuesday for the violence that surrounded the meeting of racist groups and supporters of white supremacy last Saturday in the Virginia town.

"I think he blames both sides today," the president said in remarks in the lobby of the Trump Tower, where he will stay for a few days, on his first return to his New York home in seven months. “What about the alternative left that charged against what they call the alternative right. They have no responsibility."

That comparison between racist and neo-Nazi groups, which are part of what is known as an alternative right, with the protesters who confronted them in Charlottesville to protest their hate message will surely give new air to the accusations that the president is very complacent with white supremacists.

Trump has already received strong criticism for his first response to what happened in the town of Virginia, in which a young woman died and dozens were injured, considering that "both sides" had responsibility.

That raised a flurry of criticism that forced him on Monday to read a statement of unconditional condemnation of racist and neo-Nazi organizations.

That is why his words today seem like a step backwards and will encourage protests like the one he received on Monday outside the Trump Tower, around which thousands of people unhappy with the president, who so much bustle seemed not to affect, gathered.

In a tweet, he said that he was very happy to return home and that he would attend various meetings.

Outside their luxurious Fifth Avenue residence, protesters chanted “No KKK! No Racist US F-Trump!” Others carried signs saying "White silence equal to death", as well as messages in favor of peace.

The serious clashes on Saturday reached their most dramatic moment when a vehicle hit a group of protesters against the racist march. A 32-year-old girl, Heather Heyer, lost her life.

Police have accused James Alex Fields Jr, 20, of suspected racist groups, of driving the vehicle.

Within hours of the hit, two Virginia state police officers part of the security device mounted for the march in Charlottesville died when the helicopter they were piloting crashed.