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Politics

Republican Party office attacked in N. Carolina

October 17, 2016

A Republican Party headquarters in the state of North Carolina has been damaged by fire, while a nearby wall was spray-painted with an anti-GOP slogan. The state's top Republican said it was a "miracle" no one was hurt.

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Donald Trump
Image: Picture-Alliance/AP Photo/E. Vucci

A building used by the Republican Party in North Carolina was targeted by an arson attack overnight on Saturday, while a nearby wall was vandalized with a slogan comparing the party to Nazis, authorities said Sunday.

In a statement to the press, the town of Hillsborough said the Orange County party office was hit with a Molotov cocktail, causing property damage but no injuries.

"Nazi Republicans leave town or else," read the graffiti on a neighboring building.

Dallas Woodhouse, the head of the Republican Party in North Carolina, said it was lucky that no one was hurt, as many people continue working there after normal office hours.

"They are working around the clock. It is a miracle that nobody was killed," the Associated Press quoted Woodhouse as saying.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has condemned the attack on Twitter:

Trump on the offensive

Meanwhile, her rival Donald Trump continued to attack Clinton over the weekend, claiming she and the media are rigging the election by promoting what he says are fabricated claims he made unwanted sexual advances on women.

"The election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media pushing Crooked Hillary - but also at many polling places - SAD," Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday, part of a string of anti-Clinton tweets.

"Polls close, but can you believe I lost large numbers of women voters based on made up events THAT NEVER HAPPENED. Media rigging election!" he said.

His running mate, Mike Pence, has taken a different tack, saying in a television interview that he and his party will "absolutely" abide by "the will of the American people" on election day.

Trump's campaign has been sent into a downward spiral after the recent leak of a 2005 audio recording in which the Republican candidate was heard bragging about molesting women. Since then, a number of women have come forward to claim Trump sexually harassed them.

es/cmk (AP, Reuters)