World leaders react to the assassination attempt against former President Trump

Transcript

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

Leaders from around the world are denouncing the attempted assassination against former President Trump. NPR's international affairs correspondent Jackie Northam reports.

JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE: Well wishes from U.S. allies and adversaries have poured in for Trump. State media in China reported President Xi Jinping expressed his sympathies to Trump. India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, said he was concerned by what he called - the attack on my friend. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israelis were praying for Trump's speedy recovery and that this was more than just an attack on the former president.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: This was an attack on America. It was an attack on democracy. It was an attack on all the democracies.

NORTHAM: Many world leaders expressed concern about increasing political violence. British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it has no place in our societies. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it's never acceptable. And Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said violence is irrational and inhumane. Australia's prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said people should be able to freely express their views and debate their disagreements peacefully.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRIME MINISTER ANTHONY ALBANESE: We must lower temperature of debate. There is nothing to be served by some of the escalation of rhetoric that we see in some of our political discourse.

NORTHAM: Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia blamed the Biden administration for creating an atmosphere that allowed the attack to happen. He said Russian President Vladimir Putin has no plans to call Trump. In Africa, George Charamba, a Zimbabwean government official, warned that Americans must, quote, "stop behaving like barbarians from an ancient civilization." And in an ironic jab at a common reaction by Western countries to political violence in Africa, Somalia's former foreign minister, Abdisaid Muse Ali, called for African observers to monitor the U.S. elections in November. Jackie Northam, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.