Police brace for Trump campaign event in O.C.
Anaheim department aims to avoid the chaos that arose from the candidate’s April rally in Costa Mesa.
The Anaheim Police Department is well aware of the violence that has plagued some of Donald Trump’s campaign events.
Clashes between the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s supporters and rowdy counter-protesters have marked the businessman’s campaign, and Trump’s most recent visit to California ended with 17 arrests as protesters damaged several Costa Mesa police cruisers.
Sgt. Daron Wyatt, an Anaheim police spokesman, has a simple warning for anyone thinking of re-creating that scene when Trump hosts a campaign rally at the Anaheim Convention Center on Wednesday.
“We hope that people will counter-protest peacefully, within the confines of the law. If they do, they will have a pleasant experience,” he said. “If they don’t, we are prepared to take swift enforcement action.”
Wyatt declined to say how many Anaheim police officers and Orange County sheriff ’s deputies will be on hand when Trump speaks at noon, but did say that law enforcement is “sufficiently prepared with manpower to deal with whatever comes our way.” The Sheriff ’s Department plans to have additional teams on standby in case demonstrations turn violent, according to Carrie Braun, an agency spokeswoman.
Wyatt did not offer an estimate for the number of attendees expected either inside or outside the arena, but said the department had not received any requests for permits from organized protest groups.
Demonstrators will be funneled into an area on the north side of the convention center along West Katella Avenue, Wyatt said.
Trump has drawn fierce criticism by claiming Mexico was sending rapists over the border. Later, he called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims” entering the U.S. Those comments have drawn angry protesters to his rallies, many of whom are upset by what they say is a campaign fueled by bigotry and fear-mongering.
In several states, counter-protesters have been assaulted at Trump rallies. The businessman’s last California event descended into chaos in Costa Mesa on April 28 after demonstrators blocked traffic and hurled debris at motorists.
Seventeen people were arrested, and one Costa Mesa police officer was struck with a rock. Five police cruisers were damaged, officials said.
Orange County seems fertile ground for opposing views on Trump. Although the county is still considered one of the last conservative strongholds in a state that increasingly leans left, an influx of Asian and Latino residents in recent decades has also created a base of people likely to oppose Trump’s rhetoric.
A City Council debate over whether to formally denounce Trump also led to an ugly clash outside Anaheim City Hall last month, as protesters and the candidate’s supporters exchanged obscenities and fired pepper spray at one another. Television news footage also appeared to show one Trump supporter lunging at a protester with a stun gun, and three women were treated after they were stung by pepper spray.
The council ultimately voted 3 to 2 to take no action on the resolution.
Another racially charged protest turned violent in Anaheim two months earlier, when a planned Ku Klux Klan rally in February ended with three people suffering stab wounds and several others arrested.
Officers dispersed the crowd shortly after a group of protesters swarmed the Klan members, but the Police Department was heavily criticized for not doing more to prevent the violence. The agency did not have a visible presence at the park that day despite advance notice of the rally, and dividers were not erected to keep the counter-protesters separated from the small Klan group.
Wyatt said security measures Wednesday probably will mirror those in place for a Bernie Sanders rally at the convention center Tuesday. That event, however, attracted a crowd of just 1,100, said Wyatt, who added that there were no arrests or demonstrations.
The convention center holds 7,500 people, and there have been few empty seats at Trump events during his march to the nomination.