OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, when asked about U.S. President Donald Trump possibly calling in the military to quell protests, paused here,2020:newsml_OVCGOO7OF_K15&pageId=ReutersNews for more than 20 seconds before responding that Canadians were observing events in the U.S. with horror.
“We all watch in horror and consternation what’s going on in the United States,” Trudeau said on Tuesday at a daily news briefing, after a reporter pressed him on Trump’s idea of using soldiers against protesters.
The reporter also sought comment on the tear-gassing of U.S. protesters on Monday “to make way for a presidential photo op.”
“It is a time to pull people together,” Trudeau said. “It is a time to listen, to learn what injustices continue despite progress over years and decades.”
Trudeau talked about the need to fight racism in Canada, as he has been doing since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week sparked U.S. protests.
When a reporter asked for further comment on Trump’s words and actions, Trudeau said: “My job as a Canadian prime minister is to stand up for Canadians.”
Trudeau has long spoken about the need to end racism, but his re-election campaign was almost derailed last September after pictures of him in blackface from years earlier emerged.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, a former reporter, separately defended the work of American journalists who have been targeted by both police and protesters.
FILE PHOTO: Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a meeting of the special committee on the COVID-19 outbreak, as efforts continue to help slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada May 20, 2020. REUTERS/Blair Gable/File Photo
On Saturday in Minneapolis, Reuters journalist Julio-Cesar Chavez and Reuters security adviser Rodney Seward were struck and injured by rubber bullets.
“Journalists are not the enemies of the people; journalists serve the people,” she said at a news conference.
Trump has frequently attacked the media in the past, including tweeting in April last year that the press is “truly the enemy of the people.”
ActivateNow on June 2nd, 2020 at 19:15 UTC »
The black BBQ Restaurant owner who was killed in Louisville, KY by the same cops he let eat for free in his restaurant? They also left him dead in the street for 12 hours. His name was David McAtee. Pass it on.
Listen to his poor mother speak: https://www.whas11.com/mobile/article/news/local/david-yaya-bbq-man-mcatee-odessa-riley-protests-dinos-broadway-lmpd/417-bdea59e1-3723-46c2-918a-4cc8cfc7df83
j3h0313h-z on June 2nd, 2020 at 18:24 UTC »
The U.S. Is watching the U.S. in horror and consternation too.
ElectricHoodie on June 2nd, 2020 at 17:45 UTC »
It's like we're in an apartment building where all the exits are blocked and watching the much taller building across the street go up in flames and all you can think is "Ah fuck just don't fall on us".