Trump likens US cities with pro-justice rallies to Afghan towns

US President Donald Trump has described the situation in American cities where pro-justice rallies were held "worse than Afghanistan".

"This is worse than Afghanistan, by far. This is worse than anything anyone's ever seen," Trump said at the Oval office on Monday.

Pro-justice rallies -- some of which have turned violent -- triggered by the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd have been held on a daily basis in US cities including  New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore and Portland.

Trump said he planned to send additional law enforcement personnel to some major US cities to clamp down on the anti-racism anti-police-brutality pro-justice protesters he described as hateful "anarchists".

"These are anarchists. These are not protesters...."Well, I'm going to do something; that I can tell you because we're not going to let New York and Chicago and Philadelphia and Detroit and Baltimore, and all of these, Oakland is a mess, we're not going to let this happen in our country," Trump said.

Trump lauded a federal crackdown on anti-racism protests including use of unmarked cars and unidentified officers in camouflage in Portland, Oregon, saying he would replicate the "fantastic" tactics used there to suppress other pro-justice protests in other major cities.

"In Portland, they've done a fantastic job. They've been there three days and they've really done a fantastic job in a very short period of time, no problem. They grab them. A lot of people in jail," he said.

US Homeland Security defends crackdown on Portland protesters

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has defended the federal crackdown on anti-racism demonstrators in Portland, threatening that the practice could spread to other cities across the country.

Trump referred to the pro-justice protesters as "these people", saying local politicians were afraid of them.

"[T]he governor and the mayor and the senators out there, they're afraid of these people," Trump claimed.

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