Protests rage outside Trump rally in Orange County: roads blocked
Hundreds of demonstrators filled the street outside the Orange County amphitheater where Donald Trump held a rally Thursday night, stomping on cars, hurling rocks at motorists and forcefully declaring their opposition to the Republican presidential candidate.
Traffic came to a halt as a boisterous crowd walked in the roadway, some waving American and Mexican flags. Protesters smashed a window on at least one police cruiser, punctured the tires of a police sport utility vehicle, and at one point tried to flip a police car.
"Dump the Trump," said one sign. Another protester scrawled anti-Trump messages onto Costa Mesa police cruisers.
"I'm protesting because I want equal rights for everybody, and I want peaceful protest," said 19-year-old Daniel Lujan, one of hundreds in a crowd that appeared to be mostly Latinos in their late teens and 20s.
"I knew this was going to happen," Lujan added. "It was going to be a riot. He deserves what he gets."
Officers clad in riot gear and mounted horseback lined up across a roadway and slowly pushed the crowd down the street, away from the fairgrounds as helicopters circled overhead.
Watching the chaos unfold, Colby Nicholson, 30, who described himself as a Trump supporter who traveled to the rally from San Diego, wore a "Make America Great Again" hat.
"These people are stupid, but Americans are not stupid in general," Nicholson said. "These are all underage Mexican high schoolers who have nothing to do."
Holding a Mexican flag, Juan Carlos, 16, said his parents came to the U.S. from Mexico and that he was protesting to support others like him.
"Donald Trump is worthless," Carlos said. "There won't be no United States without Mexicans."
Law enforcement agencies had deployed additional forces, including 50 Orange County sheriff's deputies and a dozen Costa Mesa police officers to prepare for the night's crowds.
Costa Mesa officials also set up an emergency operations center across the street from the fairground and the Pacific Amphitheater, where Trump spoke, city spokesman Tony Dodero said.
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