NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the National Football League on Wednesday for not forcing players to stand for the national anthem, firing back after league officials meeting in New York chose instead to effectively back players' right to political activism. tweeted Trump, who has repeatedly denounced players in the country's most popular sports league as unpatriotic for kneeling during the anthem in a demonstration against racism. The small but growing number of players kneeling during the national anthem are protesting the killing by police of unarmed black men and boys across the United States, as well as racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Trump wants the league to suspend players if they kneel during pregame renditions of "The Star-Spangled Banner." His vice president, Mike Pence, walked out of a stadium in Indianapolis this month as players knelt, which Trump said he had instructed Pence to do.

Source: The Star October 18, 2017 13:30 UTC