Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson has urged Barack Obama to pardon Hillary Clinton to help heal the country.

Mr Jackson made the plea as he joined thousands of students in an anti-racism rally at the University of Michigan on Wednesday.

He told a crowd: 'In this election, voters voted for fear. I think hope will defeat hate, but it's a battle.'

Scroll down for video

Jesse Jackson, who was honored at the University of Michigan yesterday for his decades of fighting for civil rights, urged a crowd to 'say no to violence'

Mr Jackson called on President Obama to follow President Gerald Ford's lead.

He issued a full and complete pardon of Richard Nixon in 1974 for any crimes he may have committed during the 'Watergate Scandal'.

President Nixon's second term was marred by scandal after burglars linked to his re-election committee broke into the Democratic party's headquarters at the Watergate office complex, to try and spy on his political adversaries.

Referring to that, Mr Jackson said: 'It would be a monumental moral mistake to pursue the indictment of Hillary Clinton.

'President Ford said we don't need him for trophy. We need to move on. President Nixon wasn't convicted of a crime. He didn't apply for a pardon. (Ford) did it because he thought it would be best for the country.

'Hillary Clinton has not been tried, but there are those who want to drag her for the next three years. It will not stop until they find a reason to put her in jail. That would be a travesty.'

Mr Jackson called on President Obama to follow President Ford's lead, who issued a full and complete pardon of Richard Nixon for any crimes he may have committed

The White House last week refused to rule out issuing a pardon to protect Hillary Clinton from being prosecuted by a Trump administration over her use of a private email server.

Donald Trump repeatedly threatened during his controversial campaign that, if elected, he would assign a special prosecutor to investigate Mrs Clinton.

She has already been cleared by an FBI investigation which decided that while she was 'extremely careless' in using a private email server, potentially jeopardising state secrets while she was Secretary of State, her offence didn't warrant criminal charges.

However, Trump blamed a 'rigged system' for protecting his Democrat rival, warning Clinton during their final TV debate: 'You'd be in jail' if he was president.

His supporters echoed this sentiment as 'Lock her up!' became one of the most popular chants at the fervent Trump rallies and he would occasionally join in.

President Ford (pictured in September 1974) signing a document granting former President Nixon a 'full, free and absolute pardon' for all 'offenses against the United States'

In the wake of one on the bitterest elections in history, Mr Jackson urged the crowd 'to not let any election suppress your dream to make this land a better land'.

He mentioned a recent incident in which a man told a student at the university to remove her hijab or he'd set her on fire.

'Let's all say no to violence,' he said. 'Snatching a hijab off a young lady's head is mean spirited. We will not submit to anti-Islam.'

He added: 'Students are growing up in an American that is in an identity crisis.

'These demonstrations are born out of fear. Fear that the Klan will ride again. Fear that violence (against minorities) is coming back.'

Calling on Trump to now heal the divisions, he told the Detroit Free Press: 'The one who set the field afire must be the one to put it out.'

Hillary Clinton (pictured last night) has already been cleared by an FBI investigation which decided that while she was 'extremely careless' in using a private email server