Tensions rise in U.S. cities after police shot; Trump pushes crackdown

WASHINGTON – (WARSOOR) – President Donald Trump on Tuesday taunted state governors for not embracing his proposal to send in the U.S. military to quell unrest, hours after five officers were shot and wounded in an escalation of tensions between law enforcement and crowds protesting the killing of a black man in police custody.

Demonstrators smashed windows and looted stores in New York City late on Monday, including luxury retailers on Fifth Avenue, and set fire to a Los Angeles strip mall. Four officers were shot and wounded in St. Louis and one in Las Vegas who was critically wounded, authorities said.

Trump has threatened to use the military to crack down on the unrest, now in a second week, and has derided local authorities, including U.S. governors, for their response to the violent protests.

“New York was lost to the looters, thugs, Radical Left, and all others forms of Lowlife & Scum. The Governor refuses to accept my offer of a dominating National Guard. NYC was ripped to pieces,” tweeted Trump, a Republican, in a reference to New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Trump has provided no evidence that leftists are behind the violence that has engulfed U.S. cities.

Cuomo said he was outraged by the violence and looting in New York City on Monday, and that the city’s mayor and police force “did not do their job last night.” He said he believed Mayor Bill de Blasio underestimated the scope of the problem.

The governor said he had offered the state’s mayors support from state police or 13,000 National Guard who are on standby and said that with a 38,000-strong police force, New York City should be able to address its unrest on its own. He said the president sought to blur the line between protesters with a legitimate cause and looters.

De Blasio poured cold water on the idea of bringing the National Guard to America’s largest city. He said when forces not trained to handle New York City crowds intervene, “still with loaded weapons and under stress, horrible things happen.”

The head of the National Guard, General Joseph Lengyel, said violence had decreased across the United States on Monday night, even as protest activity was sustained or increased. He said no Guard members were injured overnight.

Lengyel said 18,000 Guard members were assisting local law enforcement in 29 states, a figure that was increasing.

SOURCE: REUTERS