Hundreds of white South Africans gathered at the US embassy in Pretoria on Saturday to support Donald Trump and protest at what they claim is racism by their own government.

Protesters held placards that read “Thank God for President Trump” and displayed other messages criticising laws instituted by the South African government that they say discriminate against the country’s white minority.

Many of the protesters were from the Afrikaner community that Mr Trump focused on in an executive order a week ago that cut aid and assistance to the South African government.

The US president said South Africa’s Afrikaners, who are descendants of mainly Dutch colonial settlers, were being targeted by a new law that allows the government to expropriate private land.