Protests outside a Donald Trump rally in downtown San Jose spun out of control on Thursday night when some demonstrators attacked the candidate’s supporters.
Protesters jumped on cars, pelted Trump supporters with eggs and water balloons, snatched signs, and stole “Make America Great” hats off supporters’ heads before burning them and snapping selfies with the charred remains.
Several people were caught on camera punching Trump supporters. At least one attacker was arrested, according to CNN, although police did not release much information.
“The San Jose Police Department made a few arrests tonight after the Donald Trump Rally,” police said in a statement. “As of this time, we do not have specific information on the arrests made. There has been no significant property damage reported. One officer was assaulted.”
In one video circulating widely on social media, two protesters tried to protect a Trump supporter as other protesters attacked him and called him names.
Another video captured a female Trump supporter taunting protesters before being surrounded and struck in the face with an egg and water balloons.
Police eventually cleared the protest, which they called an “unlawful assembly.”
The incidents were the latest in a series of increasingly violent altercations between protesters, Trump supporters and police at the presumptive Republican nominee’s campaign events. A week ago, it was Albuquerque descending into chaos as the city was shaken by raucous riots and arrests outside a Trump rally. A month earlier it was Costa Mesa, Calif.
Thursday was San Jose’s turn to take center stage in what is quickly becoming a traveling fiasco.
Before the event, San Jose Police issued a press release saying it “recognizes and respects everyone’s right to express their First Amendment, and we will do everything possible to ensure the event is safe for all attendees and surrounding neighborhoods.”
As the night unfolded, however, it became clear that the chaos seen at Trump campaign stops across the country had found its way to San Jose.
Trump supporters were surrounded and, in several cases, attacked as they left the rally.
In one incident captured on camera, a Trump supporter was struck hard over the side of the head as he was walking away from a group of protesters. The attack left him with blood streaming down his head and onto his shirt.
“I was walking out with a Trump sign and he grabbed my Trump sign, saying I was like a racist and stuff,” the man told bystanders and local media. “Then he followed me, like, spit on me.”
The Trump supporter said all he had done was chant the candidate’s name before trying to walk away.
Another Trump supporter was also bloodied after being attacked, his shirt torn almost completely off his body. Videos circulating on social media showed swirling, furious fights spilling from street corner to street corner, often with no police in sight.
Marcus DiPaola, a freelance photographer following the Trump campaign, posted video of someone getting punched violently in the face.
Reached by phone Thursday night, DiPaola said the sucker punch happened at 8:08 p.m. just outside the convention center where the Trump rally was held.
“It wasn’t completely unprovoked,” he said. “The guy with the flag was waving it in front of the victim’s face. The victim kind of pushed the flag out of the way and then walked quickly away. You saw what happened next.”
DiPaola said he called 911 but was put on hold and so hung up. He said he told one police officer about the beating but was told SJPD “didn’t have the man power” to intervene.
“Morons,” he said. “How do you not staff 911 for an event of this size?”
DiPaola wasn’t the only journalist to condemn the cops’ handling of the protest.
*Culled from The Washington Post
