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Protesters get rowdy at California hotel before Donald Trump speech (w/video)

 
People demonstrate against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel  in Burlingame, Calif., Friday, April 29, 2016, before the California Republican Party Convention. [AP photo]
People demonstrate against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Burlingame, Calif., Friday, April 29, 2016, before the California Republican Party Convention. [AP photo]
Published April 30, 2016

BURLINGAME, Calif. — Furious protests erupted outside the California Republican Party convention on Friday as Donald Trump was set to address conservative activists in one of the most progressive regions of the country.

The rowdy scene followed violence outside a rally that Trump held in Costa Mesa on Thursday evening when protesters bloodied several of Trump's supporters. The eruptions were the worst since last month when Trump canceled an event in Chicago after protesters flooded the streets, with the latest round coming as he closes in on securing the Republican Party's presidential nomination.

In Burlingame, just outside San Francisco, a diverse crowd of protesters gathered outside the Hyatt Regency, the site of the state convention, to brandish signs and chant slogans like "racist, sexist, dump the Trump." A large contingent of law enforcement officials, wielding batons and wearing helmets with face shields, stood guard.

A number of protesters sat on the pavement and formed a human chain to stretch across the street by the hotel. Barricades were set up to keep the crowds back. At one point, a group of protesters appeared to rush the hotel entrance; the police hurried to corral them and restore order.

Trump, the leading Republican presidential candidate, has been campaigning in California and was to deliver an address at the convention on Friday. He arrived late as his caravan circumvented the protesters, and he was spotted by aerial television cameras entering the hotel through a side entrance with his staff.

Trump made light of the detour after he finally took the stage.

"That was not the easiest entrance I've ever made," he said as at the beginning of his remarks. "We went under a fence and through a fence and, oh boy, I felt like I was crossing the border, actually."

The protests reflect the provocative nature of Trump's candidacy and come as he has sought to re-establish himself as someone who can unite the party and, ultimately, the country. Despite those stated goals, Trump has continued to inflame the passions of his opponents by using heated language that has offended immigrants and minorities. At his event Thursday night, he brought the families of people who had been killed by undocumented immigrants onto the stage.

Trump was criticized for provoking protesters earlier this year, and he has beefed up his security after his podium was rushed at an event in Ohio. The crowds have generally been calmer since then, but Trump continues to draw throngs of demonstrators when his campaign visits urban areas with larger populations of Democrats.

Several activist groups including the Anti Police-Terror Project, Black Lives Matter Bay Area, Black Youth Project 100 Bay Area and the BlackOUT Collective had been awaiting Trump's arrival all week and were busy organizing the protests on social media. They brought signs calling him a fascist and planned to smash a Trump pinata.

"Donald Trump represents the vile underbelly of American democracy by where black people are both disenfranchised and disregarded," said Robbie Clark, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Bay Area.

While Trump is currently leading in recent polls of California Republican voters, the demonstrators made clear that their state was not friendly territory for him.

Angelica Foreman, 32, a stay-at-home mother, held a sign that said "No haters allowed in the Bay!!"