Trump calls demonstrators 'terrorists' and promises 'retribution' against them

US President Donald Trump has referred to Wisconsin demonstrators as "terrorists" and has promised "retribution" against protesters countrywide who tore down statues.

Donald Trump at the Fox News town hall in Wisconsin on Thursday night said that “Every night, we’re going to get tougher and tougher,” after the audience questioned about his plan to clamp down the protests.

“And at some point, there’s going to be retribution because there has to be. These people are vandals, but they’re agitators, but they're really — they’re terrorists, in a sense,” he added.

On Tuesday, Trump tweeted regarding the prison time for protesters who vandalised the monuments. He promised 10 years in jail for “anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such federal property,” citing the 2003 Veterans’ Memorial Preservation Act.

Many statues of Confederate generals, slaveholders and colonial figures were toppled in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests. There was an attempt to tear down a statue of former President Andrew Jackson on Monday, however, the law enforcement managed to clear the crowd.

“I can understand certain things being taken down, but they ought to go through a process legally,” Trump said Thursday.