Category: Violence

Teen Gropped and Pepper Sprayed at Trump Rally

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Police are looking for a man who pepper-sprayed a 15-year-old girl as opponents and supporters of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump clashed outside a Wisconsin rally.

The altercation is the latest in a series of confrontations that have marred recent Trump events.

Investigators have photos taken by participants at Tuesday’s demonstration outside of the Holiday Inn Express that could help to identify the man with the pepper spray, Janesville Police Sgt. Aaron Ellis said Wednesday.

Ellis said the girl told police she punched a man who groped her, and another man then pepper-sprayed her. The girl and a 19-year-old woman standing next to her were treated and released from a hospital, police said.

Ellis said the girl could face charges for punching the man, identified by the Wisconsin State Journal as Dan Crandall, of Milton.

“I didn’t touch her,” Crandall, a Trump supporter, told the newspaper. “She started to challenge why I was at the Trump rally since I was a grown man. I told her I was at the Trump rally because I was a grown man and I cared about my country.”

Crandall said someone standing behind him used the pepper spray. That person could be charged with illegal discharge of pepper spray since he was not using it in self-defense, Ellis said.

“It doesn’t appear that (the man who used the pepper-spray) was directly involved,” Ellis said. Police released a photo of the man suspected of using pepper spray on the girl, which shows him wearing a red hat with the Trump campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.”

Reality

Donald Trump has declared in the past he would help to defend supporters who respond to protesters with violence in court. It is no surprise that violence is a common occurrence at Trump events.

Protests at Trump rallies do not occur in a vacuum. Since he first announced his candidacy, Trump continues to make racist, sexist, and authoritarian remarks that marginalizes anyone who do not meet his view of white and conservative enough. A full list of protests can be found here.

Video posted on social media shows the girl arguing with someone in the crowd before punching or pushing a person who was not shown on camera. The teen was then pepper-sprayed. As the young woman was blinded by the spray, Trump supporters cheered, and one man wearing Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” shouted at her, “You goddamn communist nigger-lover, get out of here.”

Media

Links

http://news.yahoo.com/teen-pepper-sprayed-trump-protesters-supporters-clash-120727698–election.html

https://twitter.com/MollyBeck/status/714930032444047361

Trump Campaign Manager Charged With Battery for Incident With Reporter

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Corey Lewandowski grabs Michelle Fields

Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski turned himself in to Florida police Tuesday after being charged with misdemeanor battery for an incident with a reporter at a campaign event earlier this month, according to the Jupiter Police Department.

Michelle Fields, a former reporter for Breitbart, filed charges alleging that Lewandowski pulled her arm while she attempted to ask Trump a question at an event at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida on March 8.

Lewandowski was later released and is scheduled to appear in court on May 4, according to a senior law enforcement official. Under Florida law, a first offense could carry a penalty of up to one year in prison or a fine of $1,000.

“Mr. Lewandowski is absolutely innocent of this charge,” the Trump campaign said in a statement. “He will enter a plea of not guilty and looks forward to his day in court. He is completely confident that he will be exonerated.”

Reality

Trump, known for denying even the most in-your-face facts, took to Twitter to defend Lewandowski and did not disappoint calling him a “decent man” and saying the video surveillance shows “nothing there.”

However reality once again contradicts Donald Trump. The Juniper Florida Police released a video obtained from overhead footage by a security camera clearly showing Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski grabbing reporter Michelle Fields where her bruises appeared.

But don’t worry, Trump will probably be paying Lewandowski’s legal fees.

Media

Links

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-campaign-manager-charged-assaulting-reporter-n547306

Trump’s Campaign Manager Involved in Altercation at Rally

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Donald Trump’s campaign manager appeared to grab a protester by his collar during a rally Saturday in an incident captured on video.

Multiple videos, including CNN’s footage, show campaign manager Corey Lewandowski reaching for the man’s collar as a member of Trump’s security detail also grabs him from behind.

“Corey Lewandowski was speaking with a protester at today’s rally in Tucson, Arizona when the individual he was speaking with was pulled from behind by the man to Lewandowski’s left,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in response to a CNN inquiry, referring to a member of Trump’s private security detail.

“The video clearly shows the protester reacting to the man who pulled him, not to Mr. Lewandowski,” Hicks said, adding that Trump “does not condone violence at his rallies, which are private events paid for by the campaign.”

Lewandowski and the young man appear to exchange words in the moments before the altercation. Hicks said Lewandowski “simply asked the protester to leave.”

“Instead of exiting, the protester grabbed the woman in front of him (in the green shirt), which is when the man to Corey’s left and many others in the scene react to her wincing,” Hicks said.

The protester had been asked to leave once prior to the altercation, according to two sources familiar with the incident. He was able to gain entry back inside before Lewandowski and security removed him for a second time, the sources said.

Trump on Sunday called Lewandowski’s involvement in ejecting protesters “spirited.”

“Security at the arena, the police were a little bit lax. And he had signs — they had signs up in that area that were horrendous, that I cannot say what they said on the sign,” Trump said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I give (Lewandowski) credit for having spirit. He wanted them to take down those horrible profanity-laced signs.”

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Sunday campaign officials should avoid “getting involved in confrontations.”

“Getting involved is not the answer. I think you leave these things up to the professionals. You’ve got professional police; you’ve got Secret Service,” Priebus told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”

Reality

This is not the first time Lewandowski used physical violence on the campaign trail. He is turning out to be Trump’s #1 thug.

Protests at Trump rallies do not occur in a vacuum. Since he first announced his candidacy, Trump continues to make racist, sexist, and authoritarian remarks that marginalizes anyone who do not meet his view of white and conservative enough. A full list of protests can be found here.

Media

Links

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/19/politics/trump-campaign-manager-protester/index.html

Trump Calls Rallies ‘Loud, Noisy Majority’ in Fountain Hills

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Republican front-runner Donald Trump swaggered into Arizona again Saturday, repeating his promises to build a border wall, renegotiate U.S. trade deals and generally “make America great again.”

Wearing a blue jacket and red golf hat as he addressed the thousands gathered in Fountain Hills Park, Trump made a final pitch ahead of Arizona’s presidential primary on Tuesday.

“Go out on Tuesday and vote. I will never let you down,” he told the crowd, which had waited for hours in warm sunshine. He referred to them as a “loud, noisy majority.”

Trump was joined on stage by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, former Gov. Jan Brewer and Treasurer Jeff DeWit. Former Arizona lawmaker and 9/11 “truther” Karen Johnson prayed to open the event.

Trump’s arrival was delayed by protesters who blockaded one of the main traffic arteries into Fountain Hills. And he was in a fighting mood as he deployed his signature name-calling.

Trump’s angry tone endured throughout his shorter-than-usual 30-minute speech, which also focused on immigration-related themes.

“I want to tell you so much about illegal immigration, and so much has been mentioned about it and talked about it,” Trump said. “And these politicians are all talk, no action, they’re never going to do anything. They only picked it up because when I went and when I announced I’m running for president, I said, ‘you know, this country has a big, big problem with illegal immigration.’ And all of a sudden, we started talking about it and then had lots of bad things happening. Crime all over the place and for the first time people saw what was going on.”

Trump’s rallies have consistently been targets of protesters who oppose his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States and his hard-line positions on immigration and rhetoric, such as when he called Mexican immigrants drug runners and rapists.

At times during Trump’s speech, protesters, who stood in a fenced area of the park, chanted in competition with supporters.

Early in Trump’s speech, a protester scuffled with supporters after he unfurled a banner reading, “Vets to Trump: End hate speech against Muslims.” Two Trump supporters slapped down the banner and the man was quickly escorted from the rally.

Media

Links

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/03/19/donald-trump-fountain-hills-tucson-arizona-rally/82007552/

Protester Attacked While Being Escorted Out of Trump Rally

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A Donald Trump rally punctuated by near-constant interruptions from demonstrators reached a violent crescendo Saturday when a protester was punched and kicked while being escorted out.

The incident at the event in Tucson, Arizona, was the latest in a series involving scenes of violence at and around events for the Republican front-runner.

There were around 150 police officers working at the Trump event in Tucson on Saturday night.

Trump was interrupted several times during the first 20 minutes or so of the rally by protesters, who the candidate called “disgusting,” “troublemakers” and a “disgrace.”

Bryan Sanders was one of the protesters — dressed in an American flag shirt and holding a sign with Trump’s face with the slogan “Bad for America.”

He told NBC News that he was being escorted out of the rally when a man in the stands grabbed his sign and ripped it out of his hands.

“I stumble back, sucker punch.. and then you saw all hell break loose,” Sanders said. “He’s stomping me.”

Video emerged of the incident that shows Sanders being punched and kicked on the ground before police are able to separate the two men.

“What was going through my mind was: Put your arms over your head, because this political movement has gotten to the point where you may get beat to death inside of a rally,” Sanders said of the moments he was on the ground.

Officers arrested Tony Pettway, 32, at the scene. He was charged him with assault with injury, a class 1 misdemeanor, and released, police said.

Trump noticed the disturbance during his remarks, pointing to the stands and saying, “That’s a disgrace.”

Sanders, who said he is an independent and plans to vote for Bernie Sanders in Tuesday’s primary, said he expected the crowd might be hostile but was surprised by the violence.

“I understand that people support Donald Trump, but do they support this kind of scene?” he said. “Really?”

“Let’s relax, not beat each other at rallies, ok? Even if we have dissenting opinions… I find it un-American that each of us can’t dissent.”

Reality

Protests at Trump rallies do not occur in a vacuum. Since he first announced his candidacy, Trump continues to make racist, sexist, and authoritarian remarks that marginalizes anyone who do not meet his view of white and conservative enough. A full list of protests can be found here.

Media

Links

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/protester-punched-kicked-donald-trump-rally-arizona-n541991

Trump Protesters Clash, Rush Door

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Protesters clash in Salt Lake City, Utah

A throng of protesters, carrying signs and chanting against Donald Trump, marched down a blocked-off State Street toward a line of the presidential hopeful’s supporters in Salt Lake City.

The two sides shouted at each other for about an hour outside the Infinity Event Center at 26 E. 600 South, where Trump held a rally Friday night. During the protest, two people allegedly tried to breach a barrier on the west side of the event center, but they didn’t get in, said Salt Lake City police Detective Cody Lougy.

Some of the protesters’ criticisms were hurled during their beating of a Trump piñata near the end of the rally; the cardboard effigy swung through the air as it was incrementally destroyed. Among those who took a swing at it was Chrystle Baker, who compared Trump to Adolf Hitler — echoing Alyssa Ferris of the Anti-War Committee, who said at the rally that “we are facing Nazism again … and it is terrifying.”

As the crowd gathered at City Hall, Sean Taylor of Students for a Democratic Society, who organized Friday’s rally, said that they wanted a peaceful protest.

To his knowledge, no one was arrested.

The protesters eventually dispersed about 9 p.m. after an officer announced on a loudspeaker that Trump had left the building. Near the end of the protest, police asked the crowds to disperse while standing in front of the facility, some officers holding shields.

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

Links

http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/03/19/donald-trump-utah-rally-protests-sanchez-lklv.cnn

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/19/trump-supporters-protesters-clash-outside-rally-in-salt-lake-city.html

Trump Warns of Riots If Not Nominated

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Speaking on CNN’s New Day (I know I haven’t heard of it either) Donald Trump predicted violence if he were to not receive the Republican party nomination.

I think we’ll win before getting to the convention, but I can tell you, if we didn’t and if we’re 20 votes short or if we’re 100 short and we’re at 1,100 and somebody else is at 500 or 400, because we’re way ahead of everybody, I don’t think you can say that we don’t get it automatically. I think it would be — I think you’d have riots. Now, if you disenfranchise those people and you say, well I’m sorry but you’re 100 votes short, even though the next one is 500 votes short, I think you would have problems like you’ve never seen before. I think bad things would happen, I really do. I believe that. I wouldn’t lead it but I think bad things would happen.

Reality

Republican National Committee Communications Director Sean Spicer tried to spin this statement saying “I assume he’s speaking figuratively,” however one would find it hard to believe as actual riots broke out at a Trump rally in Chicago just a few days prior. What Donald Trump is doing here is a classic example of priming. By suggesting an idea of violence, either willing or unwillingly, supporters are then influenced to believe violence is part of normal judgement.

Comments like these add to the growing evidence that Donald Trump supports and condones violence against people with different ideas.

Links

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/16/politics/donald-trump-ted-cruz-brokered-convention/index.html

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bbushman/98b.pdf

This Is What Happens When a Black Man Goes To a Trump Rally Alone

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James Troupe attends a Trump rally

When James Troup decided to attend a Donald Trump rally in Dayton, Ohio, he knew that there was bound to be more than a bit of factually inaccurate fear mongering, but he never expected to see a crowd literally calling for the murder of protestors.

While Troup himself went to the rally merely to watch the spectacle of it all, he described a number of protestors being dragged out of the venue much to the delight of Trump’s supporters. According to Troup, a black man, his race compelled Trump’s staffers to assign him a security buffer of sorts in the event that the crowd decided to turn on him during the event.

“The scariest part was the crowd,” Troup described in a series of posts to Facebook. “They loved everything that was being said. The calls for the wall. The calls to blow up oil fields. The calls to torture and kill people.”

Throughout the event, Trump fired the crowd up describing the necessity of erecting a wall between the U.S. and Mexico in addition to taking a firm stance in support of torturing enemies of the state.

Trump’s rambling speech was repeatedly drowned out by the crowd’s roaring cheers that were noticeably peppered with a number of racial slurs directed at Latino people and President Barack Obama.

Troup managed to peacefully stand his ground during the bulk of the event until, once more black protestors had been kicked out, Trump supporters focused on him.

“The worst part was when their venom turned toward me,” Troup wrote. “There were protestors around me who got ushered out, and then people started pointing at me, motioning for the Secret Service to ‘get him out of there.’ Now mind you, I hadn’t uttered a single word the entire rally, but people still said things like ‘Well what about this one? He needs to go too!’”

Ultimately, Troup left the event feeling as if he’d witnessed something darker and more insidious than a simple political rally.

“At that rally, I saw the scary underbelly of America I saw unadulterated hate, fueled by intentional misinformation,” Troup said. “These people who, just 2 hours ago, seemed like good and kind people, were now cheering for blood.”

Links

http://fusion.net/story/280795/donald-trump-dayton-rally/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=boost

Police Use Pepper Spray to Disperse Protesters Outside Trump Rally in Kansas City

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The police used pepper spray twice to disperse protesters outside Donald J. Trump’s rally here Saturday night, just 24 hours after confrontations between his supporters and demonstrators led to the cancellation of a Chicago event.

Cellphone video posted on social media appeared to show as many as four cans of spray being used at one point as protesters confronted police officers on foot and on horseback.

Kansas City Police Chief Darryl Forté on Sunday defended officers’ handling of protesters, including the use of pepper spray, at presidential candidate Donald Trump’s downtown rally.

Forté said on Twitter that the protesters on Saturday evening included a “heavy presence of known anarchists” and “outside agitators.”

Darin Snapp, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department, said officers used pepper spray outside Mr. Trump’s rally in an effort to “prevent protesters from taking over the street in an attempt to fight with rally supporters.”

He said no one was injured outside the rally, but two people were arrested — one on charges of throwing a bottle at the theater, and the other on a disorderly conduct charge for his “refusal to stay out of the street.”

During the event, inside a grand old theater with inlaid carvings, a chandelier, a mezzanine and upper deck, Mr. Trump, notably hoarse, called on the police to arrest people who were merely demonstrating. He drew some of the audience’s loudest cheers when he pledged, “I’ll file whatever charges you want.”

The police escorted people out throughout the event, though they did not appear to arrest anyone for just speaking up.

At one point Mr. Trump held up the protesters as examples of the kind of people his campaign was massed against: “It’s all a little group that wants free lunch.”

He also took a shot at another favorite target, the news media: “Look at those cameras, how they bend around,” he said, as a group of protesters was led off through an aisle, past the jeering crowd, early in the rally. “They’ll do anything for a shot. That’s why I love the protesters. The only way we find out how many people are in these places is through the protesters.”

Media

Links

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/03/12/police-use-pepper-spray-to-disperse-protesters-outside-trump-rally-in-kansas-city/

Protester Bloodied as Tensions Flare at Trump Rally

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Man with bloody face at St. Louis rally

At a Trump campaign rally in St. Louis, MO., Mr. Trump was interrupted several times by multiple protesters. Lamenting that it was taking so long, he said:

Part of the reason it takes so long is nobody wants to hurt each other anymore!

Later Trump complained:

See, nowadays we have to say that, right? We have to be politically correct: “Oh, please don’t hurt them.” They’re allowed to get up and interrupt us horribly, and we have to be very, very gentle, and very gentle. They can swing, they can hit people, but if we hit them back, it’s a terrible, terrible thing, right?

They can get up and when they’re being whisked out, they can raise their bad finger up in the air … and some people get very angry at that. Because you know what that represents. And then when they get a little bit overly angry, they’re in trouble. The guy that raised his finger, that’s no problem. No, that’s no problem.

That’s when men starting walking of the rally with bloody faces.

Anthony Cage, 50, said he was demonstrating peacefully outside St. Louis’ Peabody Opera House March 11 when he was attacked by a Trump supporter.

“I was just standing still,” Cage said. “Somebody tapped me on the shoulder, and when I turned he sucker punched me. Of course, I tried to defend myself. We were on the ground when I was tackled by law enforcement.”

Media

Links

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3488383/Bloodied-protester-escorted-Trump-rally-activists-shut-event-ten-minutes-Donald-tells-supporters-problem-wants-hurt-anymore.html

http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-rally-protests-missouri-2016-3

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