Tehran, 12 June _US President Donald Trump has rejected thousands of protesters’ claims of police racism, saying only a “few bad apples” are to blame.
Trump’s remarks came on Thursday following days of mass protests across the country and elsewhere over the death in custody of an unarmed black man last month.
George Floyd, 46, died after a white police officer kept him handcuffed, knelt on his neck and pinned him to the ground for nine minutes in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25.
His brutal death sparked the biggest ever anti-racism protests, along with widespread calls for police reform in the country.
In his speech, Trump offered a vague proposal to "encourage" officers to meet "the most current professional standards for the use of force."
"You always have a bad apple, no matter where you go," said Trump during an event promoted as discussing "justice disparities" in Dallas, Texas. "There aren't too many of them in the police department."
"We have to work together to confront bigotry and prejudice wherever they appear, but we will make no progress and heal no wounds by falsely labeling tens of millions of decent Americans as racist or bigots," Trump said.
The Republican president failed to speak about police violence against black people, dimissing the subject as insignificant.
"We have so many different elements of strength in this country, we have such potential in this country, we have the greatest potential," he said. "But we get off-subject and we start thinking about things that don't matter or don't matter much. The important things, we don't even discuss but we are here to discuss very important things today."
Meanwhile, Democrats have unveiled a bill, which would make it easier to prosecute officers for abuse and allow victims to sue law enforcement for damages in civil court, ending a legal doctrine known as “qualified immunity”.
The legislation would ban police chokeholds and no-knock warrants, restrict the use of legal force and require police body cameras.
However, Senate Republicans say they are working on their own legislation relating to police reform and social injustice.
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