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Trump Portrays Himself as the ‘Law-and-Order’ Candidate | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump | REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski


Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday expressed admiration regarding police tactics and condemned attacks on officers amid criticism of his plan to use “stop-and-frisk” tactics to reduce crime.

Trump comments came in a speech following a fatal police shooting of a black man that sparked protests in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Wednesday.

The Republican presidential nominee said drugs were a major factor in urban unrest and that those suffering the most from the violence were “law-abiding African-American residents who live in these communities.”

“Crime and violence is an attack on the poor and will never be accepted in a Trump administration,” Trump stated in an energy conference in Pittsburgh.

“The violence against our citizens, and our law enforcement, must be brought to an end,” he added.

Trump has recently tried to win African-American voters as the gap in many opinion polls has narrowed between him and his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election.

From her part, Clinton did not immediately respond to Trump’s remarks on Thursday, but has pushed for stricter gun controls to help control gun violence. The latter also called for the development of national guidelines on the use of force by police officers.

Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said Trump’s words were addressing indiscriminate drug use and opiate addiction which is a serious concern for authorities and parents across the country.

Protests and unrest across the country in recent years have been on fire following police tactics and deadly encounters with mostly unarmed African-Americans.

Recent protests took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after an unarmed black man was shot. A white Tulsa officer was charged with first-degree manslaughter on Thursday in the shooting.

Clinton said on Wednesday that the deaths in Charlotte and Tulsa added two more names to the list of African-American victims of police killings. “It’s unbearable, and it needs to become intolerable,” she said.