German Chancellor Angela Merkel was evasive when asked during a TV programme about whether President Donald Trump is responsible for police violence and racism in the United States.
“I believe that his leadership style is controversial,’’ Merkel said, in response to the question of whether Trump is polarising the country, which has seen massive protests nationwide over the killing of a black man, George Floyd, at the hands of white police officers.
Asked by broadcaster ZDF whether she still trusted Trump, Merkel answered: “I work with the world’s elected presidents.
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“And of course this includes the American president.
“And I hope that the country can be pacified’’.
The chancellor said she didn’t talk about the things she discusses with Trump in public.
“I can only hope that Americans are able to work together,’’ she said, adding that she was glad that many in the U.S. were contributing to this aim.
Merkel also spoke about the “murder” of Floyd, calling it “racism,” and said: “Racism is something horrible’’.
She added that she trusted in the U.S.’ democratic system to deal with the difficult situation.
“Racism has always existed, unfortunately also in Germany,’’ she said.
“So we are now putting our own house in order and hope that there are also enough people in the U.S. who simply want to protest peacefully.’’
Since the death of Floyd, many U.S. cities have seen protests against police violence and racism, sometimes ending in looting and riots.
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