WASHINGTON POST
Donald Trump hastily postponed his Friday night rally in Chicago because of “growing safety concerns” created by thousands of protesters inside and outside of an arena at the University of Illinois. The decision immediately sparked nasty verbal and physical fights between protesters and Trump supporters who had been eager to see him that night.
The Republican front-runner’s rallies have become increasingly violent in the past two weeks, and Trump’s remarks are often interrupted by protesters denouncing his controversial stances, especially those on immigration and the treatment of Muslims.
A crowd of more than 9,000 learned of the cancelation at about 6:35 p.m. Central Time, more than half an hour after Trump was scheduled to take the stage. The thousands of protesters immediately burst into cheers and began chanting: "We stopped Trump! We stopped Trump!" Many of Trump's supporters, who had waited hours to see him, seemed stunned and a few tried a chant of their own, without much luck: "USA! USA!" As the two sides reacted to the news, skirmishes broke out in the crowd and spilled out of the arena into a mass protest outside.
"I'm so hurt, I'm so upset -- we were so excited. I just can't believe there's that many people that would come in here and destroy this," said Valerie Schmitt, 65, a Trump supporter from Naperville, Ill., who teared up as she watched the protesters celebrate. "It's one thing if they are outside, but this is just a shame that they did this."
News of the shut down came hours after a black activist in St.Louis, who gave his name as Anthony Cage (pictured top right), was filmed being escorted into a police van by two St. Louis officers with blood across his face and down the front of his sweater after clashing with Trump supporters.
At first the altercations were verbal, with protesters yelling at supporters and vice versa.In an arena section dominated by protesters, a black man dramatically ripped a Trump campaign sign in half and then quietly held up the two pieces. A young Latino man yelled at a small group of Trump supporters, flashing his two middle fingers. A small group of women repeatedly shouted: "F--- Trump!" As police selectively escorted some of the most disruptive protesters out, the crowd shouted: "Let them stay!"
While most rally goers quietly watched this unfold, a few Trump supporters directly engaged with the protesters, resulting in nasty verbal confrontations. Dozens of police officers worked to keep the crowd calm and escort out the most disruptive people from both sides.As soon as the cancelation was announced, shoving matches broke out between the two groups, and police tried to break up one scuffle after another. Everyone moved outside, and the crowd grew in numbers and the altercations continued. Hundreds of protesters gathered in the streets and in a parking garage, and clashed with Trump supporters leaving the rally.
In an interview with anchor Chris Matthews, Trump was defensive and argued that the anger boiling over at his rallies had been building for years and was not spurred by his campaign alone.When Matthews asked whether he would tell his supporters not to engage with protesters, Trump said he wanted them to leave the Chicago arena peacefully.
“I don't want to see people hurt or worse,” he said.
One of Trump’s competitors, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) blamed Trump for the violence on Friday."Tonight the seeds of division that Donald Trump has been sowing this whole campaign finally bore fruit, and it was ugly," Kasich said in a statement. "Some let their opposition to his views slip beyond protest into violence, but we can never let that happen. I urge people to resist that temptation and rise to a higher level."
I wouldn’t say Mr. Trump is responsible for the events of tonight," Marco Rubio said on Fox News, "but he is most certainly, in other events, has in the past used some pretty rough language, saying in the good old days we used to beat these people up, or I’ll pay your legal bills if you rough them up. So I think he bears some responsibility for the general tone."
The incident drew a sharp rebuke from Clinton and Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, but Trump blamed protesters for stirring trouble and pointed the finger at media for giving disproportionate air time to the disruption.
Asked on CNN, after calm was restored in Chicago, whether he regretted his comments about protesters, or bore some responsibility for whipping up tensions, he refuted the notion.
'No, I don't regret it at all,' he said. 'Overall I think we've been very mild with protesters.'
[Really.: Largely peaceful anti-Trump protests at rallies from Orlando to Louisville, Ky., have been met with physical violence from alleged Trump supporters. The Washington Post's Donald Trump campaign reporter, Jose DelReal, points out that these incidents often have an undeniable racial component. Often the protesters are black or Latino, while Trump's crowds are largely white.
[Really.: Largely peaceful anti-Trump protests at rallies from Orlando to Louisville, Ky., have been met with physical violence from alleged Trump supporters. The Washington Post's Donald Trump campaign reporter, Jose DelReal, points out that these incidents often have an undeniable racial component. Often the protesters are black or Latino, while Trump's crowds are largely white.
DelReal details one of those incidents at a Trump rally March 9 in Fayetteville, N.C.:
Rakeem Jones, 26, and several friends on Wednesday visited a large rally here in Fayetteville at the Crown Center Coliseum to see the real estate mogul for themselves and began shouting “bigot!” shortly after Trump took the stage. The next events happened in quick succession: First, Jones and his friends were led toward the exit by officers. As the officers and protesters moved along, a man slipped past security and punched Jones. Suddenly, Jones was pinned down by half a dozen police officers. (You can watch a video of it here.)