Washington: Donald Trump brought his message of walls and deportations to the doorstep of America’s busiest border crossing on Friday as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee greeted supporters in San Diego, amid one of the largest counter-protests organised against him.
Police in riot gear and wielding batons arrested 35 people in the second scuffle in three days to hit his campaign. The scene inside the San Diego Convention Center during Trump’s speech was relatively placid, while outside demonstrators opposed to his controversy-ridden White House bid marched and chanted, carrying signs criticizing his rhetoric against illegal immigration.
Waving United States and Mexican flags, more than 1,000 people turned out for anti-trump rallies in San Diego, a city on the United States-Mexico border whose San Ysidro port of entry sees nearly 3,00,000 people a day cross legally between the countries.
During Trump’s speech, some protesters outside the convention center scaled a barrier and lobbed water bottles at police. After the convention center emptied, clusters of Trump supporters and anti-Trump demonstrators began to mix in the streets, many exchanging shouted epithets and some throwing water bottles at one another.
