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Tampa authorities prep for Donald Trump rally on Saturday

 
Donald Trump, presumptive Republican presidential nominee, at a campaign event at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, Calif.,  last Thursday. [Bloomberg photo by David Paul Morris]
Donald Trump, presumptive Republican presidential nominee, at a campaign event at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, Calif., last Thursday. [Bloomberg photo by David Paul Morris]
Published June 8, 2016

Donald Trump is coming to downtown Tampa Saturday, with local authorities saying they're prepared for a large crowd and any potential protests.

The Trump campaign has booked the Tampa Convention Center's East Hall, a 100,000-square-foot space. But convention center director Rick Hamilton said he assumes that, as in the past, the campaign will need additional rooms.

In February, the presumptive Republican nominee for president drew more than 10,000 people to a rally at the USF Sun Dome.

Doors are scheduled to open at 8 a.m. with a rally from 11 a.m. to noon.

Mayor Bob Buckhorn said the city would be ready and was not worried about the kind of trouble seen last week at a Trump rally in San Jose, where some demonstrators outside the event attacked the candidate's supporters.

"I worry more about which ethnic group he's going to insult than I do about what's going to happen outside," said Buckhorn, a Democrat and an outspoken supporter of Hillary Clinton. "We'll deal with what goes on outside. We're good at it. We have a lot of practice with it, so we'll be prepared."

Local authorities said they are prepared as well.

Steve Hegarty, spokesman for the Tampa Police Department, declined to discuss specific security measures, but noted the department has handled many similar events, including two previous Trump campaign events in Tampa which had no major incidents.

"There were some people that were very passionate and very noisy," he said. "Everybody expressed their First Amendment rights and that was it."

Tampa Bay, where Hillary Clinton's campaign is about to open a statewide headquarters, is home to about one in four Florida voters and likely to be a top political battleground.

Among those expected to join Trump are Gov. Rick Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Republican National Committeewoman Sharon Day.

Details on how to obtain tickets have not yet been released, though it is usually through eventbrite.com.

Times staff writers Adam C. Smith, Richard Danielson and Dan Sullivan contributed.