Mitt Romney becomes first Republican senator to join protests

Mitt Romney, seen here in Washington last week, has become the first known Republican politician to join protests against the police treatme Credit: Susan Walsh/AP

Mitt Romney has become the first known Republican senator to march in protest against police mistreatment of minorities, turning out at a peaceful rally in Washington, DC.

Mr Romney, who represents Utah, posted a tweet showing him wearing a mask as he walked with Black Lives Matter protesters on Sunday.

Above the photo he wrote: Black Lives Matter.

Mr Romney, who was walking with a Christian group, told NBC News he needed to be there.

“We need a voice against racism, we need many voices against racism and against brutality,” he said.

On Saturday, Mr Romney tweeted a photo of his father George, who was governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, marching with civil rights protesters in a Detroit suburb in the 1960s.

Above the photo, Mitt Romney wrote: “This is my father, George Romney, participating in a Civil Rights march in the Detroit suburbs during the late 1960s — ‘Force alone will not eliminate riots,’ he said. ‘We must eliminate the problems from which they stem’.”

Meanwhile, National Guard troops from South Carolina were seen checking out of their hotel in Washington DC on Sunday soon before President Donald Trump tweeted he was giving the order to withdraw them from the capital.