Trump Tears Into Black Lives Matter Protesters For Vandalising Mahatma Gandhi's Statue; Calls Them A "Bunch Of Thugs"

United States (US) President Donald Trump on Saturday (19 February) tore into the Black Lives Matter protesters who had gone violent in the aftermath of the death of African-American national George Floyd.

President Trump while speaking at a rally lamented that they did not even spare Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Washington DC.

The statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Washington DC was vandalised by the protesters during the nationwide protests against killing of Floyd.

Trump said, "They even had 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,", reports Indian Express.

"I think they’re just a bunch of thugs, okay, you want to know the truth. I think they’re a bunch of thugs,” he said.

The vandalised statue of Mahatma Gandhi was later restored by the Embassy of India in Washington DC with help of the US State Department and National Park Police.

Trump furher said, "You know, they started ripping down Abraham Lincoln. When they hit Lincoln, I said wait a minute. This is the man and you can do – then they hit George Washington, Thomas Jefferson. They had everybody."

President Trump was speaking at an election rally in the US State of Minnesota, where he had lost by a little over 44,000 votes in the presidential elections held in 2016.