Police Car Smashed During Anti-Trump Protest Outside Rally in Orange County
A police car was destroyed as rowdy protesters stopped traffic outside a Donald Trump rally in Orange County.
The Republican presidential candidate began his campaign in California on Thursday night, bringing a crowd to The Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa.
Tensions rose as the event drew to a close around 9 p.m. local time, with hundreds of protesters against the brash billionaire demonstrating outside.
There were at least 3,000 people both for and against Trump outside the rally, which had 8,000 attendees, CBS Los Angeles reported.
One group of people even appeared to be trying to turn over a Costa Mesa police car.
A man was seen jumping on top of it and damaging its roof, with the vehicle’s rear window having been shattered.
Juan Silvar, who took video of the event as it unfolded, told the Daily News that crowds came over to the vehicle after they saw a man breaking its windows.
He added that no one was inside the car at the time and that police could only get close to the vehicle after the jumping man, who he did not see getting arrested, had hopped off.
Rows of mounted and police in riot gear were still dispersing remaining crowds at 10 p.m.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department later said on Twitter that the rally had been dispersed by 11 p.m. and that there had been no reports of major injuries.
Costa Mesa Police Department Sgt. Patrick Wessel told the Daily News that 17 people had been arrested for failure to disperse.
He said that two to three other police vehicles had objects thrown through their windows and that another car had its tire punctured.
No arrests had been made for these incidents as of early Friday.
(h/t New York Daily News)
Reality
Violence has no place in our political process and should be condemned from all sides.
Donald Trump says a lot of divisive and hateful statements, escalation of tensions may only seem natural. However as a protester, engaging in violence only plays into the hands of Donald Trump and his supporters. It gives them justification for their false sense of being victimized and allows them to paint the opposition as “thugs” and side-step our real and valid arguments.
Media
Protesters just wrecked this cop car. Bashed in windows, jumping on top of it. pic.twitter.com/bZ7vmg0lhW
— Ali Vitali (@alivitali) April 29, 2016
Judges: 4.0, 4.5, 4.0, 3.5, and 2.0 from the Russians.