Law enforcement authorities arrested 17 people outside of Donald Trump’s Thursday night rally in Costa Mesa, Calif., after the protesters blocked a major intersection and destroyed a police car parked outside the venue.
According to local reports, the leading Republican presidential candidate attracted a swarm of protesters to his campaign event in the Southern California city, who chanted “Build that wall” when police created a barrier between the anti-Trump demonstrators and the billionaire’s supporters.
Trump supporter got hurt. pic.twitter.com/W7t1WDQOGM
— Matt Pearce ? (@mattdpearce) April 29, 2016
Most of the protesters were young and holding with Mexican and American flags, the Los Angeles Times reported late Thursday evening.
In addition to hurling rocks at vehicles passing by, the protesters surrounded a cop car until one of them jumped onto the roof and smashed the rear window.
A Times reporter covering the chaos outside Trump’s rally said another protester jokingly blamed the damage done to the police car on Trump when pressed for details about the incident by police.
Back window has been smashed out of a Costa Mesa police cruiser. Protester: “I think Donald Trump did it!” pic.twitter.com/FTj4JoiAdN
— Matt Pearce ? (@mattdpearce) April 29, 2016
Police were also forced to set up an emergency operations center just outside the fairgrounds where Trump’s rally took place to deal with the hundreds of protesters who gathered outside of the event.
“We could be peaceful and do things different,” a 19-year-old protester named Arianna Perez told the Times, “but if we did, we wouldn’t get our voice heard.”
While chaos ensued outside, Trump was greeted by thousands of cheerful supporters inside his campaign rally Thursday night.
“They used to call us the silent majority, we’re the noisy majority,” he told the crowd.
