PHOENIX
— The police used tear gas to disperse crowds numbering in the
thousands on Tuesday night outside the Phoenix Convention Center as
tempers flared around President Trump’s divisive speech at a
campaign-style rally here.
Hundreds of people ran off, streaming into the surrounding streets, coughing and wiping tears from their eyes.
Police
helicopters circled above downtown Phoenix after the speech, telling
people to leave the area or face arrest. While tensions were high before
and during the speech — the police tried to keep supporters and
opponents of the president apart outside — they escalated afterward.
Jeri
L. Williams, the chief of the Phoenix Police Department, said at a news
conference late Tuesday night that officers were attacked with bottles,
rocks, and tear gas, and that two officers were being treated for heat
exhaustion at a hospital.
She
disputed the suggestion that officers were overly aggressive, saying
they responded with tear gas and so-called pepper balls, which emit
pepper spray, only after they were assaulted.
But
some witnesses said that events unfolded differently, with protesters
throwing a water bottle or two in the direction of the police, before
the police fired tear gas into the crowd.
Mayor
Greg Stanton, who also spoke at the news conference, said that the
police had attempted to allow people on the streets of downtown Phoenix
to protest peacefully, and that there had been no serious injuries. But
he added that officials were going to examine whether the approach by
the police was necessary.
“There’s going to be an after-incident review,” Mr. Stanton said.
Four
people were arrested in connection with the rally, including two people
charged with assaulting police officers, the authorities said.
“The
handling by the police of this peaceful protest was reprehensible,”
said Jordan Lauterbach, 31, a bartender who drove from Flagstaff to join
in the demonstrations against Mr. Trump. “I was gassed tonight for
exercising my right to express my views. I was disgusted by that.”
At some points, tension between Trump supporters and opponents approached disaster.
After
the rally, the driver of a Ford Ranger pickup enraged protesters by
performing the Nazi salute in their direction. A scene of chaos ensued
as protesters approached the truck and yelled at the driver and
passengers. The driver then tried to speed away from the protesters,
raising fears of a repeat of the car-related violence in
Charlottesville, Va., earlier this month. Police officers intervened to
stop the truck and have its occupants get out of the vehicle.
The
tension had started hours earlier. Before Mr. Trump landed here,
thousands of supporters and opponents gathered around the convention
center. They shouted at one another, chanted slogans, hoisted placards
and complained about the 108-degree heat. Some expressed worries that
the event would set off the kind of deadly violence that broke out in
Charlottesville, Va., this month.
Waving
an American flag as he marched past supporters of Mr. Trump, Hugo
Torres pointed to a list emblazoned on his shirt under the heading “Bad
Hombres”: former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the
Ku Klux Klan and the 45th president of the United States.
“It’s
an insult to me as a freedom-loving American for Trump to come to this
place to spew his hate,” said Mr. Torres, 41, a house painter who drove
from Tucson to protest. “This is our house, our state, our country. But
Trump and his people think it belongs just to them.”
Shortly
after Mr. Torres said those words, a woman waiting to enter the
convention center, who wore a T-shirt that read “Trump 45: Suck it up
buttercup,” shouted at him: “Hey, can I see your papers? Let me see your
papers, dude!”
Mr.
Trump’s appearance touched nerves in a city that has been at the center
of the debate over restricting immigration. Mr. Stanton, a Democrat,
urged Mr. Trump to delay his trip in an op-ed in The Washington Post, writing that the president “may be looking to light a match.”
While
the president delivered his speech inside the convention center
downtown, tempers flared on the streets around the site. Arguments
between his supporters and opponents escalated to shouting matches in
numerous locations.
Still,
many Trump supporters said they welcomed the visit as an opportunity to
express their views. Tim Foley, an Army veteran who leads his own citizens’ border patrol in Arizona, showed his Glock handgun to a reporter, saying he and his comrades had come to Phoenix to “keep the peace.”
“Ignorance
is fueling the opposition to Trump,” Mr. Foley, 57, said in an
interview outside the convention center alongside other members of his
Arizona Border Recon, which he calls a nongovernmental organization.
(Critics call it a militia.) “We’re the last line of defense. No one
wants another Charlottesville.”
The
violence at a rally of white supremacists in Virginia this month, which
left a 32-year-old woman dead — and Mr. Trump’s widely criticized
responses to those events — had many in the city bracing for clashes.
Police officers barricaded downtown streets and patrolled the area.
Restaurants closed early, and hotels restricted access to their lobbies
to guests carrying key cards.
“We
have a president without any sense of morality,” said Jimmy Muñoz, 72,
an Army veteran who showed up with his family to protest. “Trump loves
to rile people up and appeal to their worst instincts. We’re here to
show we’re better than that.”
Others, however, expressed glee about the event.
“I
can’t describe a Trump rally other than they’re the most fun things to
go to,” said Paula Rupnik, 59, a consultant for a physical wellness
company. She said she wanted to show her support for Mr. Trump and Mr.
Arpaio.
“Trump’s base here in Arizona loves Sheriff Joe,” she said.
Mattew Haag contributed reporting from New York and Rebekah Zemansky from Phoenix.
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