PHOENIX (KPHO/KTVK) – Anti-Trump protesters were blocking vehicles leading into Fountain Hills in advance of Donald Trump’s campaign stop Saturday morning.
Three protesters were arrested, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. The sheriff’s office said Sunday their names are Steffany Laughlin, who goes by Ben, Jacinta Gonzalez and Michael Cassidy.
“We had a little problem,” Arpaio told the crowd gathered in Fountain Hills. “Demonstrators were trying to disrupt.Three of them are in jail. If they think they’re going to intimidate you the next president of the U.S., it’s not going to happen.” For hours, the protesters – about two dozen in total – parked their cars in the middle of the road, unfurling banners reading “Dump Trump” and “Must Stop Trump,” and chanting “Trump is hate.” Traffic was backed up for miles, with drivers honking in fury.
Protesters were also chanting, “Donald Trump, shut it down, Phoenix is the people’s town.” The road was eventually cleared and protesters marched down the highway to the rally site, weaving between Trump supporters who booed and jeered them. “Learn to speak English,” one Trump supporter shouted at the protesters. “You can’t even show your face,” another pro-Trump attendee said to a protester with a bandanna over her face.
Trump and Arpaio have formed a political alliance in recent months, and the billionaire hopes Arizona can serve as a model on how he could win in November. The disruption occurred well after large crowds lined up to get into the Fountain Hills rally. Maricopa County Sheriff Deputy Joaquin Enriquez said officers will ask the protesters to move and if they don’t comply, they will forcibly remove them. Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies were seen directing tow trucks to start hauling the violators away.
Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers pulled up to assist deputies at Shea Boulevard and State Route 87, where protestors, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, maneuvered their vehicles to block traffic. Arizona Republican Party Chairman Robert Graham issued this statement in the wake of the protest:
“These protesters are denying our First Amendment rights by physically preventing innocent people from attending a rally held by a candidate for public office. I won’t stand for it nor should anyone in America. This is an outrageous display, and it’s deeply offensive to me as a voter and as a party leader to see these tactics here in Arizona. We trust our voters and we trust law enforcement and our judicial system to ensure no voter is intimidated or blocked or suppressed or prevented in any way from exercising his rights to vote and to enjoy free speech.”
Demonstrators also marched through a crowd that gathered at the edge of a park in Fountain Hills just before Trump arrived. The protesters, who earlier had blocked the main highway leading to the event, were outside the perimeter set up by the Secret Service around the main rally site but still surrounded by thousands of Trump backers. Deputies with the sheriff’s department were posted throughout the park, on rooftops and on patrol. Deputies wearing bulletproof vests stood alongside a Humvee with a gun turret on top.
Trump told the crowd that he is “winning by massive landslides” and vowed to rebuild the military and build a border wall with Mexico. He drew cheers from the crowd when he vowed to protect the Second Amendment – which for pro-gun Arizona is a particularly important issue. He never acknowledged the earlier blockade or the protesters in the crowd.