ANAHEIM >> Anaheim Police moved to stave off violence outside the Donald Trump rally at Anaheim Convention Center on Wednesday.
About 1:45 p.m., shortly after pro- and anti-Trump forces engaged in nonviolent shouting matches, police officials declared the area to be an unlawful assembly, shutting down foot traffic on part of Katella Avenue and arresting some protestors.
The gathering outside the convention center grew more heated just as Trump’s speech ended, shortly after 1 p.m. Trump’s speech touched on gun control, his proposal for a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, the candidate’s satisfaction with his role as a “great messenger.”
During the speech, several protestors were ushered out of the Convention Center.
“Get him out of here. Out. Out. Out. Out,” Trump, from the podium, told security officials, when one man heckled him.
“Don’t hurt him,” he added. “I say that for the TV cameras, but don’t hurt him.”
Meanwhile, outside the center, on Katella, tensions were rising.
Some anti-Trump folk chanted “Whose streets? Our streets,” echoing the protests in Costa Mesa last month. And a Donald Trump piñata was decapitated and its head used as a soccer ball.
A few Trump supporters asked anti-Trump protesters for their identification, and urged them to “go home.”
In at least one confrontation, a child pelted a Trump supporter, 35-year-old Russ Taylor of Lake Forest, with an egg. Taylor chased the child, but later said: “It’s ironic, they’re trying to suppress our rights. We should be able to attend a rally without getting hit by an egg.”
Still, no altercations broke out. The crowd was watched by Anaheim police officers on horseback and motorcycles.
Skylar Cothran, 33, of Fullerton, held a sign reading, “More love, less hate.”
“I’m 100 percent against Trump,” he said. “His hatred speaks for itself.”
But many Trump supporters said the candidate is tapping into something missed by political and media elites.
“He has a vision for America” said Deborah Kurilchyk, a Tustin resident in her 60s who came to the rally with her longtime friend, Charline Berg, 72, of Yorba Linda.
“The number of people who show up at his rallies demonstrates the fear for our nation.”
For some supporters — many of whom came to Anaheim from around the state — the event was a highlight.
“There’s no way I would miss this,” said Cindy Widdall, 53, a lifelong resident of Garden Grove.
Widdall loves that Trump talks about her biggest issues: illegal immigration and jobs.
“Illegal immigration is out of control,” she said.
Control is exactly what Anaheim police were hoping to maintain during Trump’s brief visit.
“While we recognize and respect the First Amendment rights of all individuals to express their viewpoints and protest peacefully, we will not tolerate violence or disobedience of the law during the upcoming rally in Anaheim.” Anaheim police Chief Raul Quezada said early Wednesday in a prepared statement.
“Everyone has the right to participate without fear of violence or disorder, and we are prepared to take swift and decisive enforcement action should it become necessary.”
Trump’s previous Orange County stop in April turned ugly. Following Trump’s speech, large groups of people flooded into the streets around the OC Fairgrounds, harassed motorists and smashed a police cruiser’s windshield.
There were no significant issues during Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders’ two appearances in Orange County this week, or at Hillary Clinton’s speech in Buena Park earlier Wednesday
The latest Orange County swing for Trump also comes as he has spars with Massachusetts U.S, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the only Democratic woman in the Senate who has not endorsed Clinton. Warren recently has become more aggressive in taking on Trump on his favorite medium, Twitter.
In a speech at the Center for Popular Democracy’s annual gala in Washington, Warren on Tuesday characterized Trump as “drooling over the idea of a housing meltdown — because it meant he could buy up a bunch more property on the cheap. What kind of a man does that? Root for people to get thrown out on the street? Root for people to lose their jobs? Root for people to lose their pensions?”
Warren enjoys strong support with many of the Democratic constituencies passionate about Sanders. An aide said she takes seriously her potential role in helping to bring those constituencies together and focus the party’s energy on defeating Trump.
“Donald Trump is worried about helping poor little Wall Street?” Warren asked. “Let me find the world’s smallest violin to play a sad, sad song.”
At the New Mexico rally, Trump referred to Warren as “Pocahontas,” accusing her of saying that she was Native American because “her cheekbones were high.”
“She is probably the senator that’s doing just about the least in the United States Senate,” he said of Warren. “She’s a total failure.”.
