LOS
ANGELES (Reuters) - Police in Anaheim, California, braced for protests at a
Donald Trump rally on Wednesday, a day after violence broke out at an event for
the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in New Mexico.
Hundreds of protesters tried to swarm the convention
center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Trump spoke on Tuesday, knocking down
barricades and hurling rocks and bottles at police officers dressed in riot
gear.
Police said they made arrests both outside and inside the
rally, where protesters continually interrupted the billionaire New York
developer's speech. The police department's Twitter feed said officers were
treated for injuries caused by thrown rocks.
Outside the center, demonstrators chanted anti-Trump
slogans and waved Mexican flags before they began climbing atop police cars and
throwing objects. Police responded with smoke bombs and pepper spray.
In a Twitter post on Wednesday, Trump called the
protesters "thugs who were flying the Mexican flag."
"The rally inside was big and beautiful, but outside,
criminals!" he said.
In Anaheim, where Trump was scheduled to speak at 3 p.m.
EDT (1900 GMT) at the city's 7,500-seat convention center, authorities boosted
staffing levels, deployed officers on motorcycles to control traffic and urged
attendees to be on their best behavior, Anaheim Police Sergeant Daron Wyatt
said.
"We respect the rights of everyone to protest and get
their word out," Wyatt said, adding they must do so "peacefully and
within the confines of the law."
"If they choose not to, we're prepared to take swift
and decisive enforcement action," he said.
Clashes between Trump's fervent supporters and rowdy
protesters have marked many of his campaign appearances. The violence could
prove a hindrance to his efforts to mend divisions within the Republican Party
and reach a broader section of the American electorate ahead of the Nov. 8
election in which he is likely to face Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Seventeen people were arrested last month at a Trump rally
in Costa Mesa, about 20 miles (32 km) south of Anaheim, media reports said,
after protesters blocked traffic and threw rocks and debris at motorists and
police officers.
(Reporting by Megan Cassella; Writing by Ginger Gibson;
Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson in Albuquerque; Editing by Bill Trott)
By
Emily Stephenson
