Floyd Protestors Didn’t Spare Mahatma Gandhi’s Statue: Trump

Donald Trump called the George Floyd protestors a “bunch of thugs”, who vandalised Mahatma Gandhi’s statue.

The statue in front of the Indian Embassy in downtown Washington DC was vandalised with graffiti and spray paint by unknown persons on 3 June.

(Photo: AP)

US President Donald Trump called the protestors, who were protesting the death of George Floyd a "bunch of thugs", and added that they didn't even spare the statue Mahatman Gandhi in Washington DC.

The statue in front of the Indian Embassy in downtown Washington DC was vandalised with graffiti and spray paint by unknown persons on 3 June.

"They even had (Mahatma) Gandhi. All Gandhi wanted was one thing, peace. Right? We have peace. Rip down his statue. We don't like him. I don't think they have any idea what they're doing," President Trump said while addressing a packed-rally in Minnesota on Friday, as reported by PTI.

A statue of Mahatma Gandhi outside the Indian Embassy in Washington DC was desecrated by unruly elements involved in the ongoing protests in the United States over the death of George Floyd.

Forty-six-year-old George Floyd was an African American man who died in Minneapolis on 25 May. Footage that went viral after his death showed a white police officer Derek Chauvin handcuffing and pinning him to the ground. Chauvin was seen kneeling on Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes while the Floyd gasped for breath. Widespread protests broke across the nation soon after the video went viral.

“I think they’re just a bunch of thugs, okay, you want to know the truth. I think they’re a bunch of thugs,” PTI quoted him saying. He reminded his audience that he signed an executive order that would put vandals behind the bar for 10 years.

The vandalised statue of Mahatma Gandhi was later restored by the Embassy of India on 2 July.