"Barack Obama addressed the recent killing of Charlie Kirk and told a crowd in Pennsylvania this week that the country was at an inflection point, but that political violence is not new and has happened at certain periods in US history. Obama added that despite history, political violence was anathema to what it means to be a democratic country. The former president made the remarks at the Jefferson Educational Society, a non-profit in Erie, Pennsylvania."
"He explicitly denounced political violence, addressing the fatal attacks this year of Kirk and the Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hartman. He called both incidents horrific and a tragedy. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it, the central premise of our democratic system is that we have to be able to disagree and have sometimes really contentious debates without resorting to violence, he said."
Barack Obama condemned recent politically motivated killings, calling the fatal attacks on Charlie Kirk and Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hartman horrific and a tragedy. He said political violence is anathema to democratic principles and emphasized that democracy requires the ability to disagree, sometimes contentiously, without resorting to violence. He warned that reactions to Kirk's assassination, including premature attempts by some authorities to identify enemies, risk deepening political and cultural divisions. He noted that politicians on the right blamed the radical left while many on the left viewed such claims as a pretext for authoritarian crackdowns on free speech. He praised calls by leaders for an end to political violence and a lowering of the political temperature.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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