Trump pays tribute at Pittsburgh massacre synagogue, shunned by officials and scorned by a victim’s family

Some in Pittsburgh blame Trump for fuelling the anti-Semitism that inspired Saturday’s massacre of 11 inside a synagogue

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US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump place stones and flowers on a memorial on Tuesday as they pay their respects at the Tree of Life Synagogue following Saturday's shooting in Pittsburgh. Photo: Agence France-Presse

Published: 5:20am, 31 Oct 2018Updated: 7:20am, 31 Oct 2018

A mourning family doesn’t want to meet him. Leaders of his own party declined to join him. The mayor explicitly asked him not to come. Protesters mobilised.

And yet US President Donald Trump went ahead with plans to visit grief-stricken Pittsburgh on Tuesday, amid accusations that he and his administration continue to fuel the anti-Semitism that inspired Saturday’s massacre inside a synagogue.

From left, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, US President Donald Trump, and Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers visit a memorial for those killed at the Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Trump and First Lady Melania paid solemn tribute to the 11 people slain in the worst instance of anti-Semitic violence in American history, placing a stone and a white rosebud for each of them outside the Tree of Life synagogue where they were killed. Protesters nearby shouted that the president was not welcome.

Shouts of “Words matter!” and “Trump, go home!” could be heard.

An estimated 4,000 people gathered to pay tribute to victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shootings, and protest against a visit by US President Donald Trump on Tuesday. Photo: Agence France-Presse