U.S. Secret Service agents arrest a man after he tried charging at the stage where U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was speaking at Dayton International Airport in Dayton, Ohio on March 12, 2016.
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A man attempting to rush the stage was charged with disorderly conduct and inducing panic, according to NBC News, citing local police.
“People have strong reactions to Donald Trump”, Geer said.
Police said five people were arrested, including CBS News reporter Sopan Deb. Two officers were injured, with one requiring stitches, police said. “‘I wish we were in the old days when you could punch somebody in the head.’ What do you think that says to his supporters?” Saturday’s rally also happened less than a day after Trump canceled an event in Chicago amid security concerns. Trump also said he wants to start “pressing charges” against people who protest at his events. “And I knew that if this is what I felt, when I saw what they were doing to other people, I couldn’t imagine what others felt”.
Vanderbilt University political scientist John Geer said that the tension on display at Trump’s events are a proxy for what is going on in the electorate writ large.
The billionaire businessman warned that protesters would “ruin the rest of their lives” due to a “big arrest mark” that will remain.
But Trump’s call went beyond the protesters in this Kansas City theater, with the Republican front-runner suggesting he would like to institute a practice of arresting protesters who disrupt his rallies.
Shoving, punching and screaming ensued in the canceled rally’s violent aftermath between Trump supporters and protesters.
Police say the two officers were taken to a hospital for treatment and released.
Among the Trump supporters at Saturday night’s rally in Kansas City, Missouri, is Neal Jones.
Numerous protestors chanted “Bernie” in reference to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
In Fayetteville, N.C., Wednesday, a man punched a young protester in the face as he was escorted out of the venue.
Trump is in a dogfight in OH to win the state’s 66 delegates.
But Trump on Saturday rejected the suggestion that he or his supporters were to blame, instead laying responsibility at the feet of protesters he panned as “a disgrace”.
Some critics say Trump has incited this – not only by touting controversial views against illegal immigration and Muslims, but by encouraging violence during the rallies. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is running for president as a Democrat.
Republican candidate US Senator Marco Rubio bemoaned the state of the presidential race, saying it had “become reality television”. “We are trying to make America great again and we have to deal with these terrible people”, Trump told the audience as demonstrators continued to infiltrate the event.
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The man “attempted to breach the secure buffer and was removed rapidly and professionally”, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump’s campaign said, NBC reported. There have been no reports of a tomato being hurled at any Trump event or of one hitting the candidate.
