George Floyd's death at the hands of a white police officer triggered protests across the United States against police brutality and systemic racism. While most demonstrators adopt peaceful ways to demand justice for Floyd, there have been a few cases of violent protest wherein statues of Confederate leaders were knocked down on the ground.
To restrict protesters from damaging these monuments, Donald Trump issued an executive order on June 26. The president urged the Justice Department to prosecute demonstrators who are damaging federal monuments and passed an order to restrict federal funding of local governments, which he claims aren't taking necessary actions to protect those monuments.
The executive order also focuses on strict sentencing, with offenders facing a maximum of ten years in jail. This will be applicable for anyone found guilty of damaging monuments, a key aspect of Trump's law and order strategy which the president has been talking and tweeting about in recent weeks.
Trump's order comes as ongoing protest across the country against systemic racism and police brutality has led to the toppling of statues and monuments of Confederate leaders, European colonists, and slave owners. The order describes protesters as a group of people that are constantly trying to demean the U.S. government's integrity, referring to demonstrators as left-wing extremists and Anarchists.
The order comes a day after Trump referred to demonstrators as terrorists who will face retribution. Citing the Veteran Memorials Preservation and Recognition Act, Trump tweeted that protesters who pull down statues should be put behind bars for ten years. The law caps penalty for defacing military memorials public lands to a fine, ten years in prison, or both.
The order accuses rioters, left-wing extremists, and arsonists who have either been involved or supported these acts have identified themselves with Marxism and other similar ideologies that support the destruction of the country's system of government. In a recently issued department memo, Attorney General William Barr introduced a task force that will counter violent anti-government extremists.
Barr distinguished those adopting violent ways to protest from peaceful demonstrations that don't violate the First Amendment. Barr referred to demonstrators who targeted public property as domestic terrorists and asked the cooperation of all levels of government in the department's attempt to quell these violent protests.
Trump has urged states and local governments to adopts a stricter response after protesters took to the streets of cities across America after George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man was killed by a white officer who knelt on his neck for over 8 minutes.