American singer Taylor Swift has hit out at Donald Trump over his reaction to the Minneapolis protests, tweeting a damning criticism of his comment that ’when the looting starts, the shooting starts’.

Her tweet, in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, has become the most popular ever posted by the global star, with more than one million ’likes’ in under five hours.

She said: "After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? ‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November. @realdonaldtrump," she wrote.

Floyd died in police custody after disturbing scenes caught on video showed an arresting officer kneeling on his neck as he cried out ’I can’t breathe’.

Protesters immediately took to the streets, scenes that have now continued for four nights, which led to the President tweeting: “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Trump’s tweet was censored by Twitter, another move by the social media giant which had already infuriated him by fact checking earlierposts in the week.

It’s been a while since Swift has joined in political debate.

In 2018 she publicly endorsed Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen during a Netflix documentary Miss Americana.

Trump responded by saying: "I like Taylor's music about 25% less now."

And in an interview with The Guardian in 2019 she said: “We’re a democracy – at least, we’re supposed to be – where you’re allowed to disagree, dissent, debate. I really think that he thinks this is an autocracy."

An ex-Minneapolis policeman, Derek Chauvin, 44,  has been charged with murder over Mr Floyd’s death.