DUBAI: A tweet by Barack Obama, posted in the aftermath of a far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, has become the most-liked post ever on the social media platform.
More than 2.9 million social media users have liked the tweet, in which the former US president quoted late South African president Nelson Mandela.
The tweet read: “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion.”
"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion..." pic.twitter.com/InZ58zkoAm
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 13, 2017
Obama followed on with more excerpts from Mandela’s autobiographical” Long Walk to Freedom,” tweeting: : “People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.
"People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love..."
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 13, 2017
“For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
Obama’s tweet came as far-right protesters gathered in Charlottesville to oppose the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
Many waved torches and expressed support for Nazism.
A counter-protester, civil rights activist Heather Heyer, was killed when a man plowed his car into the opposing rally.