Donald Trump called for the deployment of the National Guard against San Francisco’s ‘smash and grab’ bandits

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Former U.S. president Donald Trump has called for the National Guard to deploy in San Francisco and other Democratic cities to stop a wave of smashing and looting.

Rude groups of up to 80 thieves have broken into stores across California over the past two weeks, stealing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in expensive goods and electronics.

Thefts have become a hot issue for California residents and for conservatives across the country, blaming too many Democratic state leaders for failing to crack down on crime.

In a statement on Tuesday, Mr Trump said: “If Democrats do not immediately stop the collapse and seizure of thefts, which are taking place in their cities, the National Guard should be called.

“Nothing like that has ever happened in our Country. A large number of stores are leaving San Francisco and other cities. Some chains are closing most of their stores. All of this is also unreliable. . “

Police in Los Angeles reported a series of robberies there on Black Friday night, following a 20-strong raid on a Nordstrom at an outdoor shopping center called The Grove.

On Nov. 20, up to 80 people stormed another Nordstrom in Walnut Creek, part of the San Francisco Bay Area, using pepper spray against employees.

It also appears that the scheme has spread to other cities, with a group of 30 reportedly robbed of Best Buy in Minneapolis. Several robberies in Chicago have been declared “smash and grabs”, though it’s not clear how many people participated.

Mr Trump has a long history of calling for military responses to crime, threatening to deploy troops to Portland, Oregon and other Democratic cities during George Floyd’s protests last year.

The reasons for the crime trend are unclear, with some blaming sentencing permitting laws and the movement to defund police forces while others point to a lack of 911 operators and media reports committing copycat thefts.

Retail bosses in San Francisco also said they are seeing an “epidemic” of store theft, although police statistics suggest that such thefts have only increased compared to 2020 and are still below their previous levels. the pandemic.

City chief prosecutor Chesa Boudin became an important flashpoint, with data obtained by the San Francisco Examiner showing that his office charged only 50 percent of shoplifting cases reported by police, compared to 70 percent. under his predecessor in 2019.

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