Trump Threatens Military Force To Stop Minneapolis Protests

WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Bernama-dpa) -- United States (US) President Donald Trump is threatening to use the military against protesters in the US city of Minneapolis after renewed clashes there, German Press Agency (dpa) reported. 

US media on Thursday reported clashes between protesters and law enforcement officers that lasted for hours.

Trump said "professional agitators and insurrectionists" were behind the unrest in the city in the central state of Minnesota.

"I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State," he wrote on his Truth Social platform on Thursday. 

He again defended immigration officials, who have met with resistance in many Democrat-controlled cities due to their raids against migrants, some of which have involved hooded officers. 

The insurrection law authorises the president to deploy the military domestically in exceptional circumstances to put down riots and take part in law enforcement measures.

When protests against his migration policy were organised in Los Angeles in the summer and Trump deployed thousands of soldiers there, he did not rule out using the law.

Tensions are still high in Minnesota. A week after the fatal shooting of a woman by an immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) officer, another federal officer recently fired a shot and injured a man in the city. 

The Department of Homeland Security reported on X that the incident occurred during a "targeted traffic stop" on Wednesday evening. 

The department blamed top city officials for "their hateful rhetoric and resistance against men and women who are simply trying to do their jobs." 

-- BERNAMA-dpa