Donald Trump Riot: Cops Injured In Albuquerque Clash
Another Donald Trump riot brewed up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Several police officers were injured when protesters threw rocks at them. The extent of their injuries is not known, though none of them were immediately listed as serious.
Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, was in Albuquerque for a rally. He had just recently won the Washington state primary, running unopposed. The business mogul was back on the campaign trail after a short break, says ABC News. The event in Albuquerque was his first scheduled stop in his return to campaigning for the presidency.
Donald Trump riots are nothing new to the controversial candidate’s rally venues. After Trump recently labeled Mexican immigrants as “rapists,” Albuquerque police readied themselves for a likely clash both inside and outside the convention center where the rally was held. Protesters inside the center interrupted Trump’s speech several times. One woman tried to stay in the building by locking herself to a barricade. Police carried her out.
Trump pressed on, though. He fired his own shot when another protester was removed.
“This is so exciting, isn’t it?” Trump said. “Still wearing diapers, look at this guy! I’m telling you the kid looks like he’s 10 years old.”
But the civility didn’t last. A video posted on CNN shows protesters streaming through a police barricade. People began throwing rocks and bottles at the police officers and their horses. Police responded with smoke canisters, which some rioters kicked back at them. No tear gas was used, according to officials, but police said they also used pepper spray.
Donald Trump riot participants were interviewed afterward. The unrest stemmed from several issues but mostly from Trump’s controversial statements on Mexican immigrants.
“The people of Albuquerque specifically do not want Donald Trump in our city,” one woman said. “Donald Trump cannot come to our city after calling us rapists.”
In an interview after the riot was broken up, Albuquerque police spokesman Officer Tanner Tixier noted the police force’s “amazing amount of restraint.” Despite the injuries to the officers by the thrown rocks, only one arrest was made and no injuries to protesters were reported.
A protester faces the riot police who were armed with batons and wearing gas masks as the scene unraveled late https://t.co/7JAraL6c47
— Steve Ferguson (@lsferguson) May 25, 2016
The Donald Trump riot outside the convention center didn’t change the message the candidate sent inside, though. Their chants and slogans fell on deaf ears. Dan Scavino Jr. is Trump’s campaign director of social media, and he took to Twitter to call the protesters “thugs.”
“They don’t even know what they are ‘protesting!!'” Scavino also wrote.
During his speech, Trump again promised to “build that wall” between the U.S. and Mexico. He also addressed a recent attack by Hillary Clinton, who slammed him for anticipating a profit off a housing market crash.
“That’s what I’m supposed to do,” Trump said. “Hey, I feel badly for everybody, what am I gonna do? I’m in business, OK?”
A Donald Trump riot took place in Costa Mesa, California, in April. A police car’s windows were smashed, and rioters tried to roll the car over. A speech in Chicago was canceled when pro- and anti-Trump mobs got physical with each other. And the Cleveland Police Department has ordered over a thousand new sets of riot gear in anticipation of the Republican National Convention in June. Trump’s next scheduled appearance is in Bismarck, North Dakota, on May 26.
Will protests erupt into violence in Bismarck or Cleveland? One thing does seem certain, though, given Trump’s resolve throughout the unrest and violence.
Donald Trump riots haven’t changed Donald Trump’s mind.
[Photo by Brennan Linsley/AP Images]
