New York. US President Donald Trump has criticized the planned painting of the street in front of his skyscraper in New York with the words “Black Lives Matter”.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio wanted to “paint the famous and beautiful Fifth Avenue, right in front of Trump Tower / Tiffany, with a big yellow Black Lives Matter sign,” Trump announced on Twitter on Thursday.
Trump referred to an alleged protest call referring to “the killing of police”, which he attributed to the Black Lives Matter movement. “NYC cops are angry!” Read the tweet.
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The alleged protest cry “Pigs in a Blanket, Fry ‘Em Like Bacon” quoted by Trump has not been a frequent occurrence in protests in New York and elsewhere following the death of Black George Floyd a month ago in police custody in Minneapolis.
De Blasio: “Only bent heads equate Black Lives Matter with violence”
De Blasio replied to Trump on Thursday evening (local time) on Twitter, “Only bent heads equate the words Black Lives Matter with violence. It is a movement to recognize and protect the lives of blacks,” said de Blasio.
The New York City Government announced on Wednesday that the slogan “Black Lives Matter” would be written in bold letters on the street in front of Trump Tower in Manhattan. The first such a block long embassy in New York was held on a street in Brooklyn. Officials in Washington had also written the slogan on a street leading to the White House.
“The President is a shame for the values we hold in New York City”
“The president is a shame for the values we hold in New York City,” said de Blasio’s spokeswoman Julia Arredondo. “He cannot control or deny the reality we are facing, and every time he tries to enter what he claims to be his hometown, he should be reminded that black lives matter.”
Work on the street message in front of Trump Tower will begin next week, Arredondo said. Trump lived in the skyscraper before his presidency. He has spent little time there since then. Last year he moved his official residence to Florida.
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