Sunday, March 20, 2016

Demonstrations Against Trump Continue in Tucson
BY MEG WAGNER, DENIS SLATTERY
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, March 19, 2016, 3:35 PM

Another day, another beatdown at a Trump rally.

A man who attended the GOP front-runner’s event in Tucson, Ariz., was caught on video viciously assaulting a protester who was being hauled out.

The disturbing melee occurred around 3 p.m. amid a rabid crowd that booed as protesters tried to disrupt the event.

In the video, an adult male starts punching the protester — a man wearing an American flag t-shirt — in the head. When the protester falls to the ground, the man can be seen stomping wildly and kicking at him.

A swarm of security officers were able to push through and grab the man before he disappeared. The officers could be seen cuffing his hands behind his back before leading him away.

A member of the audience stomps on protester Bryan Sanders as Donald Trump speaks in Tucson. When the protestor fell, the man was captured on video wildly kicking at the body while people tried to pull him away.

Mayhem ruled the rally. In another incident, Trump’s hotheaded campaign manager Corey Lewandowski — already accused of grabbing a woman reporter’s arm and shoving her to the ground at a March 8 Florida rally — was seen in a blue suit wading into the crowd.

Lewandowski got nose-to-nose with a young protester who found himself surrounded by an angry crowd. Video shows Lewandowski’s hand landing briefly on the protester’s collar, as the man next to Lewandowski yanks the young man backward.

Trump said in a statement that Lewandowski hadn’t gotten physical with anyone at the rally and reiterated that the candidate doesn’t condone violence.

Trump brings a supporter up on stage for a kiss during the campaign rally in Tucson on Saturday.

The tension started early Saturday on a sun-drenched stretch of desert highway where a Wild West showdown took place between demonstrators and sheriff’s deputies, delaying the GOP front-runner and his supporters from attending a rally in Fountain Hills.

A rally on an Arizona highway protesting Trump backed up traffic Saturday.

The Trump haters parked their cars in the middle of the three-lane road leading to the Phoenix suburb and unfurled banners bashing the controversial candidate.

Some even chained themselves to their cars to slow down cops’ efforts to clear the blockade.

Traffic was backed up for miles, with drivers honking in fury.

“We are here to send a message loud and clear to Donald Trump that he is not welcomed in Arizona and we will not allow his racism and bigotry to go unchecked,” said Francisca Porchas, one of the organizers of the protest.

At least one woman cable-tied herself to her car during the protest.

Cops freed her and carried her off of the road.

Police eventually dispersed the crowd and arrested three people.

The real estate magnate took the stage an hour late and hurled insults at his rivals, promised to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexican border and claimed America “is not winning anymore” during a rambling, wide-ranging speech that provided few policy details.

Trump supporter Geroy Morgan, 62, made it to the park in time to hear Trump speak — but was furious at the demonstrators.

The roadblock was an attempt to stop Trump from attending his rally.

“We come here, the silent majority, to express our opinions,” Morgan said. “They don’t have any permits or rights.”

Trump was joined by Arizona’s controversial Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who mentioned the gridlock as he introduced the brash billionaire.

The crowd broke out in applause when he said there were arrests.

Arizona votes Tuesday in a winner-take-all Republican primary as well as a Democratic race.

With News Wire Services

mwagner@nydailynews.com

No comments: