US President Barack Obama said on Saturday that political leaders “must speak out against violence” , in an apparent reference to disturbances in and outside a campaign event venue in Chicago involving supporters and opponents of Republican front-runner Donald Trump. Earlier on Friday, 32 people were arrested after protests at a Trump rally in St Louis, Missouri.
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“When we heard Donald Trump was going to be here, my wife was like you’ve got to go because we’ve been advocating support for Donald Trump for a lot of years”, said Jeff Mayes of Effington, Ill. “I’ll file whatever charges you want”. And then, he tells supporters, “we’re not going to have any more protesters, folks”.
Mr Trump’s remarks were interrupted about a dozen times by protesters who managed to get into the theatre and they were escorted out.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to send his supporters to the campaign rallies of Democrat Bernie Sanders, showing no sign of toning down his rhetoric after clashes erupted at his own events over the weekend.
Hours before Trump was scheduled to appear Friday night at the University of IL at Chicago, the atmosphere inside a campus arena was crackling as protesters and supporters shouted back and forth, arms raised and yelling in each other’s faces.
His motivation was not immediately clear, and Trump went on to finish his speech, but the incident further increased tension after Trump’s Chicago rally was abandoned amid chaotic scenes on Friday.
Later in the evening, as the rally ended and the crowd thinned, at least two officers still carried the canisters.
Kasich agreed, saying he’s “had enough” of the “toxic environment” Trump has created, and said the NY billionaire’s conduct on the campaign trail “makes it very difficult” to support him. Defending his decision to cancel the Chicago rally as part of his effort to prevent any large scale violence or harm, Trump said this shows how one can take good decisions under pressure.
Protesters have been beaten, shoved, kicked and verbally abused during many of Trump’s events. “People are catching on to Donald Trump”.
Trump said he should be praised for cancelling the event.
Trump, meanwhile, celebrated a successful campaign day on Twitter. My people are nice. And teach them that politics at its best is about a battle of ideas and resolving our differences without encouraging or resorting to violence’.
“I think we also have to look at the rhetoric coming from the front-runner in the presidential campaign”, Rubio said yesterday in Largo, Fla. “Someone who’s basically encouraged people in the audience to rough up anyone who stands up and says something he doesn’t like”.
But by Saturday morning, Kasich – who, like Cruz, had declined to blame Trump for violence at his rallies as recently as CNN’s Republican debate on Thursday – called a press conference to denounce Trump.
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Republican candidate US Senator Marco Rubio bemoaned the state of the presidential race, saying it had “become reality television”.
