Obama condemns Trump’s use of federal agents against protesters

ATLANTA, GEORGIA – JULY 30: Former President Barack Obama gives the eulogy at the funeral service for the late Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) at Ebenezer Baptist Church on July 30, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. Lewis, a civil rights icon and fierce advocate of voting rights for African Americans, died on July 17 at the age of 80. Alyssa Pointer-Pool/Getty Images/AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Former US president Barack Obama on Thursday condemned President Donald Trump’s use of federal agents against protesters and Republican attempts at voter suppression.

“Today we witness with our own eyes, police officers kneeling on the necks of black Americans,” Obama said in a eulogy at the funeral service in Atlanta of civil rights leader John Lewis.

“We can witness our federal government sending agents to use tear gas and batons against peaceful demonstrators,” he said.

“Even as we sit here, there are those in power who are doing their darnedest to discourage people from voting by closing polling locations and targeting minorities and students with restrictive ID laws and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision,” Obama added.