Fights, turbulence after Trump speech
Those awaiting Donald Trump’s arrival in San Diego on Friday were mostly peaceful. But once he gave his speech and left, small fights broke out in the streets outside the Convention Center among crowds of supporters and protesters, and police in riot gear ended up massing to drive the crowds from the area.
In one clash near Harbor Drive, thrown items hit people in the head, and several small street fights erupted in the same area, as the environment outdoors became tense when anti-Trump crowds started to mix with his supporters just before 5 p.m.
San Diego police declared an unlawful assembly in the Gaslamp Quarter due to violence about 4:40 p.m., announcing in Spanish and English that people needed to disperse. Officers with riot gear were moving among the crowd.
Several people were also throwing plastic bottles, some that hit police officers, near Petco Park on L Street between 5th and 6th avenues. Also nearby, someone grabbed a man’s “Make America Great Again” hat and burned it.
Officers in helmets, masks, pads and with long wooden batons massed in lines, then moved slowly toward the the unruly protesters. By about 6 p.m. and before dark, police had managed to move and disperse the crowd, and few were left.
“We came in very quickly and decisively,” Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said during a 6 p.m. briefing, her last of the day. “The last thing we want is a mob mentality.”
Dozens of officers moved the crowd onto Harbor Drive, then southbound away from the Gaslamp, she said. Zimmerman said those actions became necessary because a large, boisterous crowd had formed near 5th Avenue and L Street.
Zimmerman also stressed that the vast majority of supporters and protesters had been peaceful throughout the day.
In total, police arrested 35 people. Eighteen people received medical attention at the site, officials said.
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(One woman in a stars and stripes outfit in a walker fell on trolley tracks and cut her head, closing trolley traffic for a while. Television footage showed a man with a bloodied nose, apparently after a scuffle with someone on the other side. Authorities also reported a suspicious bag that was investigated and found harmless and a rubbish fire of unknown origins behind the Convention Center that was quickly doused.)
Prior to the late afternoon problems, people for and against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee avoided physical confrontations, opting instead for heckling and jeering each other off and on near the Convention Center.
The only incident before Trump finished speaking was a confrontation about 3 p.m. between police and an anti-Trump protester with a Mexican flag who was trying to climb over a railing that divided protesters from police near the Convention Center steps. Officers told him to get down, he refused and they struggled with officers clubbing him at one point.
Trump, who arrived at San Diego International Airport just before 1:30 p.m., spoke to thousands inside the convention center starting about 2:30 p.m.
Several hundred Donald Trump protesters take to downtown streets of San Diego.
In the hours before his speech, several thousand protesters and supporters swarmed the streets near the Convention Center and spilled into the Gaslamp Quarter, with anti-Trump marches through downtown prompting some unplanned road closures and temporary interruptions in trolley service.
Motorcycle officers who lined Harbor Drive stopped a large group of anti-Trump protesters and directed them to designated, fenced areas known as “free speech zones.”
In addition, about 200 people carrying anti-Trump banners and signs marched through city streets with a police escort near Horton Plaza.
Pro-Trump designated free speech areas were less crowded, but many of his supporters had left the streets about 11 a.m. when the doors were opened to the Convention Center.
During the morning, Trump supporters dominated the scene. They wore red “Make America Great Again” hats, Trump T-shirts and Trump buttons and some chanted “U.S.A., U.S.A, U.S.A.”
They jeered when a car with posters for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders drove by and honked.
Jan Andrews was the first person in line at 12:30 a.m. Carrying Trump’s biography, which she read while waiting, Andrews said she got there early because she wanted to shake the candidate’s hand.
Andrews said she supports Trump because he is “a very good speaker and he has the courage of his convictions.”
As the time of his speech drew closer, Trump protesters began to dominate. They carried Trump piñatas labeled “racist” and “bigot” and carried signs saying “Racist go home” and “Mexican lawyer, not a rapist.”
Nate Snell of Encanto wore a Black Lives Matter pin and several Bernie Sanders pins, and said he was frustrated by Trump’s stances on immigration.
“I’ve never been a fan of hate speech my entire life,” he said.
Other anti-Trump protesters carried signs with slogans such as “No hate No racism No Trump,” “You can’t comb over racism,” “Humanity against Trump,” Without immigrants Trump would have no wives,” and “Hey, Trump, I’ve met Reagan and you’re no Reagan.”
Trump supporters carried signs with slogans such as “Gays for Trump,” “Arab Christians for Trump” and “Young Democrats for Trump.” In addition, one man wrapped himself in a giant “Trump for President 2016” flag.
There was also one puzzling banner: “God hates paid protesters.”
The protesters who marched near Horton Plaza were union workers accompanied by City Councilman David Alvarez. They shouted slogans as they paraded on Sixth Avenue, B Street and C Street, where a trolley was halted and motorcycle police also helped clear a path for the marchers.
Francine Busby, head of the San Diego County Democratic Party, said earlier this week that her group helped coordinate half a dozen local Trump protests with a coalition of organizations representing Latinos, women, veterans and others.
About 12:30 p.m., Trump supporters and detractors started heckling each other near the Convention Center, exchanging heated remarks about each other and the candidate. Some of the taunts were shouted from a distance while others used bullhorns. Several tense confrontations got close and personal, with crowds hemming in the hecklers on all sides, but no blows were thrown.
Those confrontations got more intense and sometimes a bit violent after Trump’s speech, when his supporters flooded out of the Convention Center,
Zimmerman said at her noon briefing that there were about 1,000 protesters at that time, but that number appeared to climb quickly as the day wore on.
For months now, Trump rallies have been the source of violent protests.
Recent confrontations include one in New Mexico on Tuesday, where people lit fires and threw rocks at Albuquerque police officers. On Wednesday, protesters were arrested during clashes with police at a Trump rally in Anaheim.
In San Diego, people were being allowed to demonstrate outside of the designated free speech zones, but they were required to follow laws and avoid blocking pedestrian or vehicle traffic.
Trump was in Billings, Mont. on Thursday and then went to Fresno for a Friday morning rally there before heading to San Diego.
Chief Zimmerman said police officials had conferred with their counterparts in Albuquerque and Anaheim about their recent experiences. Zimmerman said law enforcement agencies have identified some protesters who have attempted to disrupt various Trump events and that local police will keep an eye out for them.
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