Delegates Cheer Donald Trump, Protesters Confront Police at the California GOP Convention [VIDEO]
Donald Trump, by his own admission, couldn't ignore the dissident crowd gathering outside the Hyatt Regency Friday morning, located minutes from San Francisco International Airport.
The carried signs reading "End White Supremacy," "Unification not Deportation," and "Welcome to Aztlan Deport Donald Trump;" one created an acronym for Trump's surname, "Too loud Repugnant Presidential Megalomaniac Petty."
Police set up barriers along the main road in and out of the hotel. For Trump to come in, he would have to confront hundreds of people united in their contempt of the real estate mogul who campaigns on a promise to fortify the U.S.-Mexico call at the Mexican government's expense.
During his noontime speech, Trump would say he felt like he was the border to enter the hotel. Trump circumvented protestors, through mud, dirt, and a fence behind the Hyatt against counsel that he should cancel the appearance altogether.
"That was the easiest entrance I ever made," Trump said, once he hit the stage. "My wife called, she said there are helicopters following you, and then we went under a fence and through a fence, oh boy, it felt like I was crossing the border."
Inside the Banquet Hall
Trump's rally with Orange County conservatives a night earlier primarily focused on immigration. He claimed 31,000 supported arrived to the Orange County fairgrounds ticket in hand, only to be turned away once the venue reached maximum capacity.
Friday's affair wasn't as raucous. Attendees avidly listened to the 30-minute speech without interruption. They heard Trump castigate Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich for their fellowship aimed at brokering July's Republican National Convention. Trump laughed at their wavering arrangement, saying "these are politicians, folks. They can't make a deal. How are they going to make a deal with China?"
Trump jabbed at leading Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and a "rigged" delegate process that delays his inevitable nomination, all to vehement praise from his lunchtime crowd.
Mexican-American Luisa Aranda, one of the few - if any other - Latinas inside the banquet hall said she was harassed by protests, solely for supporting Trump.
"They came up on me, yelling to my face, calling me a traitor, a sellout, 'how could I be there,' I should be joining them. I said no," Aranda said. "My problem is I'm tired of the middle class of paying for people like you. That take advantage, that use fraudulent applications. I've seen it all, and that's what made me change.
Aranda, who donned a t-shirt that read "Latinos for the Wall," said she used to vote Democrat because she was the abuse and corruption among liberal voters.
"I worked hard all my life to live legally, I've never done anything illegal. Don't take my rights away," Aranda said.
Protesters and Police Clash - Video
As Trump finished his speech, protests migrated from the two-way road facing the Hyatt to about 300 feet from the back entrance. They got within a breath of the chorus-line of police, shouting "si se puede" as they were pushed back.
Unlike Orange County, San Francisco protests didn't smash police cruisers, and few got violent. A 20-something-year-old broke the police line and was promptly arrested. Other showed their contempt for Trump peacefully, and without incident.
The protests began around 8 a.m., well before Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump spoke to Bay Area delegates he was courting.
"Trump claims that his rallies are one of the safest places to be in America. Safe for who?" said Christine Rosales, a graduate student at UC Santa Cruz. "From these rallies it is clear that when he wants to protect 'Americans,' he really means people who fit the status quo and can benefit the most from white supremacy and patriarchy. In other words, white men like himself."
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