Republican front-runner Donald Trump abruptly cancelled a big campaign rally in Chicago just minutes before he was to address on Friday night as protesters and supporters packing the venue clashed repeatedly, triggering fears that the situation could get out of hand.
In what was a dramatic escalation of protests seen at his rallies for the past many weeks over his shrill rhetoric targeting illegal immigrants and Muslims, Trump decided to “postpone” the event after meeting with law enforcement officials.
Several hundreds of protesters thronging the venue — Chicago Pavilion at University of Illinois — broke into “We dumped Trump!” chants, while supporters kept up the refrain” “We want Trump!” In the ensuing disturbances, at least
two police officers were injured. Five persons were taken into custody.
It was not immediately clear how the protest-induced cancellation of the event would play out at other Trump rallies and more importantly atTuesday’s primaries in five large States including Illinois, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Missouri.
Rejecting the criticism that his own rhetoric has been sparking disruptions at his rallies, Trump blamed the protesters for not allowing him to exercise his freedom of speech. “These were very, very bad protesters. These were bad dudes. They were rough, tough guys,” he told CNN.
Speaking to MSNBC, Trump said, “You have so much anger in the country. I mean it’s just anger in the country. I don’t think it’s directed at me or anything. It’s just directed at what’s going on for years and it’s sort of both sides.”
Trump’s rivals, however, blamed it all on his “incendiary comments”. Even while condemning the disruptions, other Republican hopefuls Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich held Trump’s tone and tenor to blame for the happenings at his rallies. Cruz went on to say that Trump “affirmatively encourages violence”.
Some of the protesters held up signs pledging support to Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders. After cancellation of the Trump event, Sanders himself tweeted, “We do things a little different in this campaign: We bring people TOGETHER.”
In a subsequent address at a high school in Illinois, Sanders said, “We’re not going to let Donald Trump or anyone else divide us.” As he put it, “the American people are not going to accept a president who insults Mexicans, who insults Muslims”.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton also slammed Trump over his “divisive rhetoric” and said it “should be of grave concern to us all”. “We all have our differences, and we know many people across the country feel angry. We need to address that anger together,” she said in a statement, adding that candidates “should use our words and deeds to bring Americans together”.