Some 35 people were arrested Friday in San Diego and only a “defiant few” remained in the area as confrontations between protesters and police erupted, including the throwing of rocks and bottles at officers, after presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump addressed thousands of supporters.
Trump promised that he would offer a strong challenge in heavily Democratic California in the general election.
A Republican presidential candidate has not carried California since George H.W. Bush in 1988. Few objective analysts give Trump much of a chance of winning California in part because of his strong unpopularity among Latinos.
As Trump delivered an energetic, 59-minute speech inside the San Diego Convention Center, more than 1,000 protesters representing various opposition groups demonstrated outside.
The protests were mostly peaceful before the speech, but some who later tried to scale a barricade were turned back by police. After the speech, several confrontations disrupted what had been an orderly dispersal outside the convention center.
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“The situation rapidly changed from predominantly peaceful protests that we had been seeing all day long, to acts of violence between opposing protesters, which included fights, objects being thrown into the crowd and the crowd pushing and shoving each other,” San Diego Police Department Chief Shelley Zimmerman said.
“To keep the peace and to prevent further acts of violence — just like we said that we were going to do all day — we took very quick and decisive action and we issued an unlawful assembly order,” Zimmerman said. “We did this to control the crowd, secure the area and also to maintain the safety of all of our public.”
The number of arrests was expected to grow as the night wore on. There were no reports of property damage, but a few protesters were slightly injured by pepper ball spray. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported 35 arrests and 18 others needed medical help.
Police in riot gear maintained a huge presence as the crowd moved into the Gaslamp Quarter.
Hundreds of officers, deputies and agents from more than 18 local, state and federal agencies were part of the public safety plan headed up by the San Diego Police Department.
Zimmerman said the thousands of people in the crowd were mostly peaceful and it was only a handful of protesters that sparked the violence.
“I couldn’t be more proud of everybody today, all law enforcement and public safety personnel who went out there and really showed just tremendous, tremendous patience and professionalism what they did today,” she said.
Around 7:50 p.m. Trump tweeted his praise of the San Diego Police Department, “Fantastic job on handling the thugs who tried to disrupt our very peaceful and well attended rally. Greatly appreciated!”
In his speech, Trump said he can compete in California because people are tired of political leaders like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee. They offer “all talk and no action,” he said.
Trump also said U.S. political leaders were “grossly incompetent.”
“We’re going to play for California, we’re going to win California, you watch,” Trump said. “We have created a movement — it’s a movement to common sense, to smarts, we’re not going to be ripped off anymore.”
Trump touched on numerous issues in his speech, touting his commitment to helping veterans, rebuilding the military and forcing allied nations to stop “abusing us.”
Trump also went on rants over a class-action lawsuit filed against him and his now-defunct Trump University, which is scheduled to go to trial in November in San Diego, and a woman who worked for him but later made critical remarks about him to the media.
In a city on the U.S.-Mexico border, he made only a couple of passing references to his plans to construct a wall intended to keep people from entering the country without legal permission.
Immigration activists joined organized labor and other groups to march to the convention center and demonstrate outside. Some carried Mexican flags and chanted profanities.
The city designated demonstration zones — one for Trump supporters and another for those who oppose the 69-year-old billionaire’s presidential bid — on the northwest and southeast sides of the Harbor Drive center and monitored attendees’ behavior while ensuring their constitutional free-speech rights, Zimmerman said.
In the protest area, Martha McPhail of La Mesa held a “Dump Trump” sign.
“I am opposed to the hateful, bigoted, racist language of Donald Trump and his arrogance and intolerance,” McPhail told City News Service. “I’m for all of our people — all races, sexes, genders, military veterans — and he’s divisive.”
Bryan Sanders, a 33-year-old Tucson resident, said he came to San Diego because Trump needs to be stopped.
“Donald Trump is a fascist,” said Sanders. “He has no business being in American politics. He’s un-American. His march toward power needs to stop, and it’s gonna.”
Sanders said he was injured at a previous Trump rally in his hometown.
Riley Hansen, a 19-year-old supporter, was selling pro-Trump T-shirts and said he likes the candidate’s business knowledge.
“My dad always told me you need a businessman as president,” the Orange County resident said. “I like his policies. We need the border wall built.”
Tami Eshelman of Lake San Marcos said she came to hear Trump speak and to show her support. She said she wants to find out who would serve on his team, such as cabinet members, if he’s elected.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and area Republican Reps. Duncan D. Hunter and Darrell Issa warmed up the crowd, eliciting boos when they mentioned the media or President Barack Obama’s visit to Hiroshima, Japan, the city where the first atomic bomb was dropped near the end of World War II.
Trump welcomed them and a large group of veterans to the stage at the beginning of his speech.
A campaign spokesman said about 20,000 people RSVP’d for the event, but the room at the convention center had a capacity of 10,000. A large number of people were still in line trying to get inside the facility as Trump delivered his speech.
Many of the people who had protested before the rally were gone by the time the post-speech crowd became unruly.
Law enforcement officers from several agencies cleared the Gaslamp Quarter and herded several hundred people onto Harbor Drive as a police helicopter ordered people to disperse. They were being guided out of the area by officers in riot gear toward Logan Heights hours after the speech had ended.
The Metropolitan Transit System stopped running through the area, and shuttled passengers south from the Santa Fe Depot.
— City News Service
