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US President Donald Trump on a visit to the state of Louisiana on Saturday
Photo:
TOM BRENNER / REUTERS
"LAW & ORDER!" Wrote Donald Trump on Monday morning local time on Twitter - again.
The US president tries to portray himself as the guardian of public security during the election campaign.
He regularly uses riots in the course of the nationwide protests against racism and police violence to repeat the buzzwords.
Most recently, the protests were rekindled by the shooting of a white policeman in the back of the black family man Jacob Blake.
This led to violent protests in the city of Kenosha in the state of Wisconsin, on the sidelines of which two people were shot last Tuesday.
Afterwards, a 17-year-old white man was arrested and charged with murder.
He may belong to an armed group pretending to protect buildings and shops from the demonstrators.
Trump now tweeted that he had virtually averted a disaster.
"If I hadn't insisted on sending the National Guard to Kenosha, Wisconsin, there would be no more Kenosha."
Trump wrote that his intervention prevented many dead and injured.
"See you on Tuesday!"
Then, as the President has announced, he will visit Kenosha.
The fact that the governor of Wisconsin has asked the president to stay away from the city does not stop Trump.
According to the White House, he wants to meet with security authorities and get an idea of the damage after the violent protests.
In another tweet, the president threatened once again to "clean up" Portland.
Since the death of the black George Floyd in a brutal police operation in Minnesota at the end of May, the west coast metropolis has developed into a center of the nationwide "Black Lives Matter" protests.
The city was also the site of a controversial federal police operation, which Trump pushed through despite protests from the democratic city government.
On Saturday evening, a man was shot dead on the sidelines of an anti-racism demonstration in Portland under as yet unexplained circumstances.
It is unclear whether there is a connection between the clashes of the demonstrators and the death.
The police have started a murder investigation.
Photographs showed that the victim was wearing a hat with the logo of the group "Patriot Prayer".
According to local media, they are an ultra-right group that has been involved in several violent demonstrations in Portland.
Police chief Chuck Lovell warned against jumping to conclusions.
Several hundred vehicles from Trump supporters had previously driven through the city in a car parade.
They also drove through downtown, where clashes broke out with Black Lives Matter demonstrators.
Amateur footage showed at least one Trump supporter shooting at the demonstrators with a paintball gun.
Pepper spray was also sprayed.
Trump shared a video of the motorcade on Twitter and commented on it with the words "Great Patriots!"
The Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden then blamed Trump for the escalation.
"He recklessly encourages violence," Biden said on Sunday.
"He may think that tweeting about law and order makes him strong - but his failure to tell his followers to stop fighting shows how weak he is."
According to Biden's campaign bureau, the presidential candidate wants a speech on Monday on the subject of "Are you safe in Donald Trump's America?"
hold.
On Sunday evening around 150 anti-racism protesters gathered in front of a police building in downtown Portland, waving posters and sometimes throwing objects.
The police called on people via Twitter to stop the illegal gathering and threatened arrests and tear gas.
Videos posted on the Internet showed how around 20 police officers broke up the demonstration and arrested some protesters.
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mes / AFP / dpa