‘Riots only help Trump’: Rock legend Roger Waters slams US president but calls for peaceful protests

“Trump is trying with the whole holding up the Bible thing to reinforce the idea he wants a civil war between the white supremacist Christian right and anyone willing to stand up with a baseball bat and say no,” Waters told RT America on Tuesday.

While he understands that a lot of people are “desperately angry” about George Floyd or other African-Americans killed by “vicious” police all over the US, Waters beseeched the protesters to embrace nonviolence instead, which worked during the 1960s Civil Rights movement.

You have to remember Mahatma Gandhi, you have to remember how important nonviolent protest is, and also how effective it is... Leave the baseball bats at home, riots only help Trump.

He would not rule out that the level of anger seen currently may have something to do with people being on lockdown for months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and pouring their energy into the protests now.

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While social media virtue-signaling such as posting black squares on Instagram does nothing, celebrity activism can make a difference, he said. Instead, people should take pictures and document police brutality, while not giving them cause for a crackdown.

Everyone with any platform should speak up. The greatest sin of all is to be silent.

Peaceful protests over Floyd's death in Minneapolis, Minnesota last week turned into riots and looting that spread across the US, prompting Trump to deploy the military in Washington, DC on Monday to "restore order" and announce he will do it elsewhere as necessary.