The mayor of Portland, Oregon has launched a blistering attack on Donald Trump amid a deadly shooting in his city after supporters of the US president and Black Lives Matter protesters clashed.
followed a week of country-wide protests - including the cancellation of numerous sporting events - over the police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin of black man Jacob Blake in front of his children. .
Mr Wheeler on Sunday accused Mr Trump of repeatedly fanning the flames of hate and inciting violence during his presidency.
“President Trump, for four years, we’ve had to live with you and your racist attacks on black people,” Mr Wheeler told a press conference.
“We learned early about your sexist attitudes towards women. We’ve had to endure clips of you . We’ve had to listen to your anti-democratic attacks on journalists ... We’ve listened to your attacks on immigrants. We’ve listened to you label Mexicans 'rapists'.
"Do you seriously wonder, Mr President, why this is the first time in decades that America has seen this level of violence? It's you who have created the hate and the division.
“It’s you who have not found a way to say the names of black people killed by police officers, even as people in law enforcement have. And it’s you who claimed that white supremacists are ’good people’”.
Portland has been the site of nightly Black Lives Matter rallies and other protests ever since the death in custody of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May.
Mr Wheeler, a Democrat, and Mr Trump, a Republican, have clashed repeatedly over the unrest in the city, with the president repeatedly threatening to send in federal forces and accusing the Portland mayor of losing control of his city.
Mr Wheeler said Mr Trump had to be “stopped” in order for the country to come back together as “one America".
“You have tried to divide us more than any other figure in modern history and now you want me to stop the violence that you helped create. What America needs is for you to be stopped."
Earlier on Sunday, Mr Trump attacked Mr Wheeler for refusing help from the National Guard, which he said "could solve these problems in less than 1 hour."
The president also ramped up his "law and order" rhetoric, tweeting the phrase in all capital letters ahead of series of other tweets criticising Mr Wheeler.
“The people of Portland, like all other cities & parts of our great Country, want Law & Order. The Radical Left Democrat Mayors, like the dummy running Portland, or the guy right now in his basement unwilling to lead or even speak out against crime, will never be able to do it!” he tweeted.
Mr Trump has taken a hard stand against the racial protests and the White House said .
Last week, a white teenager with a semi-automatic rifle shot three anti-racism demonstrators protesting against the shooting of Mr Blake, killing two of them.
17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse is accused of shooting dead two men and wounding another who were protesting against Jacob Blake's shooting. Source: AAP
The 17-year-old suspect, Kyle Rittenhouse, is charged with six criminal counts, including first-degree homicide, in connection with the incident, which was captured in several witness videos.
Additional reporting by AFP.
