By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Various world leaders on Saturday condemned the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania in which the former president was shot in the right ear while one rally attendee and the shooter were left lead.
Leaders from multiple nations expressed shock at the incident, denounced political violence and wished Trump a quick recovery.
A spokesperson of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the shooting and called it an “act of political violence.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said: “We must stand firm against any form of violence that challenges democracy.”
Two other spectators were also injured in the shooting at the rally, the Secret Service said, while a source told Reuters that the incident was being investigated as an assassination attempt.
Trump, 78, posted on social media that he had been shot in the upper part of his right ear and that there was “much bleeding.” His campaign said he was “doing well,” and Bloomberg News reported he had been released from the hospital.
British Prime Minister Kier Starmer said he was “appalled by the shocking scenes” at the rally. “Political violence in any form has no place in our societies and my thoughts are with all the victims of this attack.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the shooting was “concerning and confronting,” while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it left him “sickened.” Trudeau added: “Political violence is never acceptable.”
Americans fear rising political violence, recent Reuters/Ipsos polling shows, with two out of three respondents to a May survey saying they feared violence could follow the elections in November in which Republican Trump will face President Joe, a Democrat who also denounced the shooting.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the shooting left him shocked. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who met Trump this week while visiting the U.S. for a NATO summit, said his prayers were with the former president “in these dark hours.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called the shooting unacceptable while also urging others to condemn it.
“The attack against former President Donald Trump must be vehemently repudiated by all defenders of democracy and dialogue in politics. What we saw today is unacceptable,” the Brazilian leader said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Trump a friend and wished him a speedy recovery while saying: “Strongly condemn the incident. Violence has no place in politics and democracies.”
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; additonal reporting by Michelle Nichols and Gnaneshwar Rajan; Editing by William Mallard)
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