News / Human Rights

CAIR condemns Trump for 'inciting violence' against Muslims

Saturday, 20 February 2016 9:08 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 21 February 2016 2:29 AM ]

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, February 19, 2016. (AFP photo)

An influential Muslim advocacy group in the United States has condemned Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for “inciting violence” against Muslims, after he narrated a hoax story about Muslims being killed with bullets “dipped in pig’s blood.”

“Donald Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric has crossed the line from spreading hatred to inciting violence,” Nihad Awad, the national executive director for the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a statement on Saturday.

“By directly stating that the only way to stop terrorism is to murder Muslims in graphic and religiously-offensive ways, he places the millions of innocent, law-abiding citizens in the American Muslim community at risk from rogue vigilantes,” the statement said.

Speaking at a rally in Charleston, South Carolina, on Friday, the Republican frontrunner told supporters about US General John Pershing executing Muslim prisoners in the Philippines in the early 20th century.

“He took 50 bullets and he dipped them in pig’s blood,” Trump said. “And he had his men load his rifles and he lined up the 50 people, and they shot 49 of those people. And the 50th person, he said, ‘You go back to your people and you tell them what happened.’ And for 25 years there wasn’t a problem."

“We better start getting tough and we better start getting vigilant, and we better start using our heads or we’re not gonna have a country, folks,” Trump continued.

According to fact-checking websites, Trump’s tale is false.

Trump, who has never held elected office, is still leading the Republican presidential primary field, despite the fact that his campaign has been marked by controversial statements, including with disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants and Muslims.

Trump says he would deport 11 million undocumented workers from the United States and would establish a “deportation force” for this purpose.

He has also promised to expel undocumented immigrants and build a wall on the US-Mexico border. In addition, he has proposed repealing the constitutional right to citizenship of anyone born on US soil.

Trump has also created a furor in the US and around the world by proposing a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims” entering the United States, following a mass shooting in California.

The New York real-estate mogul has also called for a database to track Muslims across the United States, and he has also said that the US would have "absolutely no choice" but to close down mosques.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir