Sharjah 24 - AFP: The United States marked an unusually somber Independence Day on Saturday, with President Donald Trump bashing domestic opponents and China -- but praising the country's coronavirus response, despite a record surge in cases.
Across the country, virus fears dampened or nixed Main Street parades, backyard barbecues and family reunions on a day when Americans typically celebrate their 1776 declaration of independence from Britain.Instead of adopting a unifying tone, Trump -- facing a tough re-election and eager to mobilise his political base -- railed against protesters demanding racial justice after unarmed African American George Floyd was killed by a white police officer."We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters," Trump said.Anti-racism protesters who have marched in cities across America are "not interested in justice or healing. Their goal is demolition," he said.Speaking from the White House lawn, Trump addressed a crowd that included frontline health workers battling COVID-19, which has killed nearly 130,000 Americans.He accused China -- where the outbreak originated -- of a cover-up that allowed the illness to race across the globe, but hailed American "scientific brilliance.""We'll likely have a therapeutic and or vaccine solution long before the end of the year," he said.Some of the US leader's sharpest words were for the media, which he accused of a campaign to smear opponents as racists."The more you lie, the more you slander, the more you try to demean and divide, the more we will work hard to tell the truth and we will win," Trump said, with four months to go until the election.
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