Trump relaunches campaign in Tulsa, scene of one of the largest racist massacres in the United States

Donald Trump has agreed to change the date but not the location of his first post-coronavirus campaign meeting. Originally scheduled for June 19, "Juneteenth", celebrating the 155th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the United States, the meeting was postponed until the next day under pressure from critics.

His opponents were also indignant at his choice of Tulsa, marked by the memory of the massacre of 300 African-Americans by a white crowd in 1921. Why, if not for a provocation, choose Oklahoma for its first meeting back in the countryside , when the republican state is acquired?

"My campaign has not yet started. It starts on Saturday evening in Oklahoma," said the president, who will run for a second term in the presidential election on November 3.

Big crowds and lines already forming in Tulsa. My campaign hasn't started yet. It starts on Saturday night in Oklahoma!

Between "Trumpists" and anti-racist demonstrators, up to 100,000 people are expected from Friday to Saturday in Tulsa.

And the tension weighs on the city, where we fear the overflows around this meeting surrounded by a double controversy: first the risk of worsening the spread of Covid-19 in a country that has the heaviest record of the world, then the choice to organize its grand return around the commemorations of the end of slavery. A "real slap", according to the local leader of the movement "Black Lives Matter".

The reversals around a curfew decreed then canceled by the republican mayor of the city added to the controversy.

Few masks among activists

Wearing "Trump 2020" caps, waving American flags and camping in the streets, enthusiastic supporters have been waiting for the President for days to see him in person.

Despite the pandemic and while Oklahoma is experiencing a strong surge in detected cases, it is in a covered room, the BOK Center, that some 20,000 people will crowd.

Claiming that a million people had requested tickets, Donald Trump said that around 40,000 could also attend the meeting in a nearby convention hall.

Almost none of his supporters wore masks on Friday. And participants in Donald Trump's meetings will have to sign a document saying that they will give up any lawsuit if they ever catch the virus on this occasion.

The attention of the participants goes to the anti-racist demonstrators. Stephen Corley, 19, said he was more worried about the demonstrations by "extremist leftists" and other "rioters" than by the Covid-19.

The organizers will take the participants' temperature and distribute disinfectant gel and masks.  

Even so, the White House's respected infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci was clear: would he attend such an event? "Of course not."

"Trump is ready to spread the virus just to hear a few cheers," said Senator Bernie Sanders, a former presidential candidate and now Joe Biden's support, indignant.

With AFP

The France 24 week summary invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

Take international news everywhere with you! Download the France 24 app