NATO Secretary-General -Use of military for protests is ‘a last resort’

10:35, 06.06.2020

NATO Secretary-General has expressed concern at Donald Trump’s plans to put troops on the streets of US cities to control protests, saying that decision should only ever be “a last resort”.

In an interview with Sky News, Jens Stoltenberg said “the right of freedom of expression, the right to peaceful demonstrations, that’s a fundamental part of our open free democratic societies and these are core”.

“When it comes to the use of military there is different legislation across NATO allied countries, but in all NATO allied countries it’s always regarded an effort of last resort, the use of military personnel,” he said.

“So this is fundamentally an issue that has to be decided by the US institutions, but across NATO it has always been a very high threshold for any use of military force in your own country.

“I am shocked, we are all shocked, by the death of George Floyd and I would like to express my condolences to his family, to his community.”

Stoltenberg echoed Trump’s own defense secretary, Mark Esper, who earlier this week said troops should only be used “in the most urgent and dire of situations”.

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