POLLS APART

Trump’s outrage sparks armed protests and Rival asks for calm and calls election ‘sacred’

- CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN

WITH Donald Trump demanding “stop the count”, armed mobs who support him descended on polling centres in the US.

But while the President was accused of stoking up anger and unrest, rival Joe Biden called for calm and said the election is “sacred”.

As Trump claimed the Democrats are trying to “steal the election”, Biden was being briefed about the pandemic – with new cases setting a US daily record of 102,591 on Wednesday.

With Republicans fearing the postal votes still being counted would cost Trump the election, the President claimed he was being cheated out of victory by “illegal and late” ballot papers.

Hundreds of his supporters, many of them armed, protested at vote-counting sites, causing officials to lock staff in for their protection.

In Phoenix, Arizona, about 150 pro-Trump demonstrators, some carrying rifles, gathered outside the county recorder’s office.

Protesters argued that Adrian Fontes, the official who oversees elections in Maricopa County, was failing to count some ballots and costing the President votes. There was no evidence any ballots had been wrongly discarded.

Trump supporters banged on the glass and chanted slogans outside the room where ballots were being counted in Detroit, Michigan. Biden supporters across the US were demanding that every vote be counted. In Portland, Oregon, anti-fascist protesters burnt an American flag, and police declared a riot after demonstrators began damaging businesses.

Marchers had banners including one with a picture of a rifle and the slogan: “We don’t want Biden – we want revenge... for police murders... and fascist massacres.”