President Donald Trump is issuing a warning to protesters ahead of his upcoming campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The president took to Twitter on Friday with a statement targeting “any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters, or lowlifes.”
He tweeted, “Any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes who are going to Oklahoma please understand, you will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle, or Minneapolis. It will be a much different scene!”
Any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes who are going to Oklahoma please understand, you will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle, or Minneapolis. It will be a much different scene!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2020
Although protesters do have the right to exercise their First Amendment rights through demonstrations, the president is suggesting protesters will be treated harshly.
Trump’s latest tweet comes follows heightened criticism and speculation surrounding the Tulsa rally.
The president originally scheduled the Tulsa rally for June 19. The date widely referred to as Juneteenth, serves as Independence Day in the black community, marking the end of slavery in the United States.
In addition to the Juneteenth date, the location of the rally was also sharply criticized and seen as a jab to the black community because Tulsa happens to be the home of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre where America’s most prominent black community, known as Black Wall Street, was destroyed.
Trump’s rally in Tulsa on the weekend of Juneteenth proves what we already knew: he’s the largest superspreader of division and hatred we’ve seen in generations. pic.twitter.com/LuNKjfK0pB
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 17, 2020
So. Let's set the stage…
— Dan Rather (@DanRather) June 10, 2020
President Trump has chosen as the venue for his first rally in months, Tulsa, Oklahoma, site of a horrific massacre of African Americans. And he has set the date for June 19th, Juneteenth, a celebration of the end of slavery in the United States.
The Tulsa Race Massacre took place in May of 1921. For 18 hours, white mobs tossed Molotov cocktails and torched churches and hospitals, killing 300 black people died. On Juneteenth, Trump will hold a rally there. Not any rally, a white supremacist rally.
— Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) June 11, 2020
However, Trump insists the date and location were not intentional, as previously reported on IJR.
On multiple occasions, the president has come under fire for his approach to dealing with protesters.
Even Republican lawmakers have urged him to change the tone of his rhetoric, arguing that his tweets are “not constructive.”
Repeatedly, Trump has been asked to make a call for unity in an effort to bring the country together but he continues to focus on “law and order” in support of law enforcement agencies.
Due to concerns about heightened protests in the wake of Trump’s rally, the Tulsa Police Department has announced a curfew for the area downtown near the arena, as IJR reported.
🚨CURFEW IN EFFECT FOR DOWNTOWN🚨
— Tulsa Police (@TulsaPolice) June 19, 2020
As part of our preparations for President Trump’s Rally this Saturday, we are working on making the area secure for everyone’s safety.
As posted earlier, the area illustrated in this map will need to be free of vehicles and pedestrian traffic. pic.twitter.com/uT76N0IWRc
Trump’s rally is scheduled for Saturday at the Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
