Trump visits Dayton and El Paso
US President Donald Trump has visited emergency workers and survivors of a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas – one of two cities shaken by gun attacks that took 31 lives.
Hispanic people were targeted in an apparent hate crime when a gunman in El Paso shot dead 22 people on Saturday.
Trump himself has been accused of stoking hatred against Hispanic people.
He came to Texas from Dayton, Ohio, where he had visited survivors of a shooting in which nine people died.
Trump said before leaving Washington that he was concerned about “the rise of any group of hate… whether it’s white supremacy” or any “other kind of supremacy”.
But the Democratic congresswoman who represents El Paso, Veronica Escobar, refused to meet him, saying his “racist and hateful words & actions” had caused pain to her community and her country.
Trump called for unity in the wake of the attacks in Texas and Ohio and spent Wednesday visiting emergency responders and survivors.
But criticism over his rhetoric and lack of action on gun control did not go away.
In El Paso, Texas, some protesters carried signs saying “racist, go home”.
There were similar scenes in the other city he visited, Dayton, in Ohio. Supporters of President Trump also took to the streets.
