Posted on 03/12/2016 2:51:35 AM PST by SoFloFreeper
At 2:30 p.m., I arrived at the Donald Trump rally located at the UIC pavilion in Chicago, IL. There was light police presence at the Blue Line station, and the pavilion was short walk away. There I waited in line for about an hour until making it to the front doors, going through a security scanner, and finding a seat in the main hall.
For nearly two hours the pavilion filled until it neared capacity. It was clear that protesters were seated around the room, given easily away by their manner of dress. Most of the Trump supporters, being suburbanite or small town white people from outside of Chicago, were dressed strikingly normal—jeans and t-shirts, yoga pants or dresses, and the occasional suit.
The first protestors began around 5:30 when two young white males pulled off their coats to reveal t-shirts with anti-Trump slogans. At this point I noticed the police presence inside the rally was a mere 8 police officers, bolstered with hands-off event staff.
Before 6:00 p.m., a man spoke on the microphone and requested that rally attendees do not touch or harm protesters who interrupt the event. He reminded the protesters that Donald Trump supports the first amendment as much as the second.
Following this was a string of smaller incidents, such as people holding up improvised signs and shouting. One entire bleacher row was filled with protesters and they began chanting and throwing around torn up signs. A few people who began standing up and screaming, and were slowly escorted out by police. The police kept leaving the protesters unattended throughout this, taking 4-8 officers to escort protesters out one at a time.
A black man in a black jacket ran up to the front stage, bumped into the podium, and attempted to speak, but was wrestled down by two men in suits. As they escorted him through the crowd, he took a swing at a Trump supporter. The men escorting him were incredibly gentle and restrained themselves from using any force. Then voice came on and declared that the event was postponed. A few minutes later, they informed us that Trump had landed in Chicago and spoken to Chicago Police officers, and that due to safety concerns, the rally was canceled.
At this point, the protesters began to descend into chaos. Aside from a few mild “TRUMP” and “USA” chants, the Trump supporters were mostly quiet and bewildered as the protesters began to scream, chant, and run around the main floor area in a huge pack, flipping off the rally attendees and swearing at them. There were a few tense altercations between the two groups, but from what I saw at this point, no violence.
The rally was instructed to leave the pavilion, and I have to admit, the Chicago Police messed up bad here. We walked straight out of the building and into enormous packs of protesters screaming at us, with little police presence to protect the Trump supporters.
Following this, I wandered the protest grounds to see what was going on. My memory is a bit jumbled at this point because I was so pumped up, but let me string together the events as clearly as possible:
Many of Trump propaganda signs, most commonly depicting him as Adolf Hitler, but others showing him with a small penis, simple signs of text English and Spanish, signs. Young women shouting anti-white racial epithets.
“THE PEOPLE ARE UNITED. WE WILL NOT BE DIVIDED” being shouted at Trump supporters who holed themselves up in a parking garage, quietly fearing for their safety. Another good one by the protesters was “FREEDOM FIRST! FREEDOM FIRST!” Strangely enough, there were a good amount of signs calling for peace and freedom. Lots of peace signs being flashed with the fingers.
A single white Trump supporter who held up a sign and stood quietly as three dozen people surrounded him, smiling and screaming, snatching and pushing at him until he had to run for police cover. Someone grabbed his American flag and threw it on the ground and he fought to recover it. The police escorted him away.
Two young men, perhaps 17-19, standing quietly as they waited for a ride home. They were wearing their MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN hats, looking terrified as people cursed and swore at them, and occasionally threw furious challenges for debate. The two young men held their ground. Only once did one of those hats come down, and it quickly went back on again.
A general atmosphere of pleasure and happiness from the protesters. A common chant was “WE WON!” and “WE STOPPED* TRUMP!” It honestly felt like a social event for the protesters. There was plenty of mingling
Plenty of shouts at Trump protesters that Trump and his supporters are not welcome in Chicago. I challenged one on the first amendment. He said he does not consider himself an American and continued insulting the grizzled old white man he was arguing with.
Extremely inefficient police presence. The cops were lined up on their horses or standing behind barricades, but generally were not present where Trump supporters were being hounded and occasionally struck by protesters. The protesters were primarily composed of millennial-aged: white hipsters, African Americans, Hispanics, and Muslims. Some of the protesters were teenagers below voting age.
The protesters flew a big set of American, Mexican, and Puerto Rican flags. There were lots of small American and Mexican flags too. *The Trump supporters mostly fled for safety immediately. You have to understand, they were outnumbered by thousands of protesters.
There was media presence, but not as much as you’d think. Plenty of areas where chaos was going on had no media nearby. The reporters were mostly getting people to talk to them off to the side where nothing was going on, or focusing ongoing debates between Trump supporters and rally members.
A small amount of the protesters were smoking weed. (I have nothing against this personally, just included for accuracy.)
Plenty of chants for “BERNIE! BERNIE! BERNIE!” Some Trump supporters looked at each other in bewilderment. “But Bernie Sanders isn’t even running against Donald Trump,” was the common sentiment.
Edit: The Trump supporters had a general trust for the police, while the protesters saw their presence as antagonistic. This is especially interesting to me, because as a foreigner and person of color I am generally afraid of police.
Closing statement:
Obviously I did not see everything that occurred as I wandered the protest grounds outside the cancelled Chicago rally. What I did see, however, was fear. Fear from the rally attendees for their immediate safety, and fear of Donald Trump from the protesters.
More than that, I feel that I experienced today, for the first time in my life, true totalitarianism and authoritarianism, expressed laterally from citizen to citizen, in order to silence opinions from being shared. This enforcement was shared through sheer numbers and intimidation, and in a few cases, violence.
People brought their children, loved ones, and friends to attend the Trump rally. I saw an older Asian man and his white wife in attendance, and the looks on their faces when the rally was declared cancelled almost broke my heart. I saw scared children clinging to their parents’ sides as they exited the building to the screams of protesters. I saw a quiet, but excited crowd of Donald Trump supporters get thrown out of Chicago.
Worst of all, I saw the first amendment trampled, spit on, and discarded like trash.
This cannot go on. As I finish this, I feel a sense of utter dread and hopelessness for what is becoming of the youth in this country, particularly those of the regressive left. So polarized has political opinion become, that dissenting thoughts on college campuses are now seen as hateful. These people deal in absolutes. They are right, and whatever means they must take to achieve their ends, they will do it. They will not stop themselves from violence or censorship. They will do it, and they will call hell down upon you if anyone dare does upon them the same.
Tonight I went to the Trump Rally to hear the thoughts of not only the man who was supposed to come and speak, but the people who support him. I found respect. I found calmness. I found peace.
The truth is, I am a legal immigrant, not a US citizen. I am not American. I am not white. I cannot vote. After tonight, I support Donald Trump.
Lastly, for anyone who thinks the protesters didn’t incite violence tonight, I offer you this. Updates:
Tallon5 posted a bunch of images and videos that match up to my personal accounts
Super Hat Bros FOUND! Personal friend of theirs speaks out
Another account from the PoliticalDiscussion subreddit Thanks for the gold and all the kind comments. I hope you guys stay safe. Remember that the best way to make America great again isn't just voting, but making yourself great too. That goes to anyone who reads this, regardless of who you support or what you believe.
First who is the mayor of Chicago? Could it be that he didn’t want a successful Trump rally held in his domain? Second I would have loved to see the Trump supporters start singing “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” Though it may have just inflamed the vitriol of the protestors’ demons even more. This protestation seems irrational, violent and criminally threatening. It’s scary to think such people want control over the nation,
Official orders telling the cops to give the anarchists room to destroy?
The Baltimore strategy
Private security is very limited in what they may legally do,and some cities add more restrictions. While many people assume private security have the same or nearly the same power as police the criminals are fully aware of the limitations.Essentially ,private security has only the arrest power of any citizen and is usually constrained by employer orders to merely observe and report;escorting troublemakers requires the cooperation of the troublemaker.The police are to be called to do actual “hands-on” removal.It is all about lawyers and liability.The private officer can be a court witness,can close doors, can tell troublemakers to desist, and can defend himself or others only as any other citizen might in the same situation.
DEPUTIZED private security or off-duty police officers hired for event security do have the full police powers in nearly all jurisdictions.(and this is also a reason police unions promote hiring off -duty cops at overtine rates for events).
....the Clinton Crime Foundations.
I don’t understand why the predominately black cities don’t want Trump and his promises of deporting illegals and creating jobs. Don’t they want to work? Are they mad because jobs will become available and they don’t want them? Easier to live off the backs of hard-working Americans? Trump was saying during the chaos last night that the people were pissed because of no jobs. I think he’s wrong on that one. They are pissed because they might have to work.
Mr Trump opened a seam that let bubble out the hatred we all knew existed. We’ve all seen snippets in a random crime or in some cases more personally in a workplace. But potential consequences somehow managed to keep things from getting out of hand. But witness a group too large, a police force too small, and a whole group that they hate with a fierce heat all in one place and conveniently disarmed. They showed their truest colors.
Thanks SFF,GOOD REPORT
Very true. And a police force completely unmotivated to put a stop to it.
Not sure what your time frame was.
So far, in 2016, the murder toll in Chicago is 116.
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/2016-chicago-murders/timeline?mon=1
Roughly equals 50/month.
My limited experience with hiring security is off duty sheriff deputies. I would assume Trump would hire off duty police/sheriff deputies and not just security guards.
Yea so what at 1AM many of us are sleeping.
“You don’t suppose the Chicago police were ordered to be ineffective ?”
I was thinking about this last evening when I was hearing about the rally cancellation, etc... It also occurred to me that the whole BLM movement, as well as the Departmment of Justice police department investigations, purposeful race agitation by the President, and support from many of those in the Democrat party has weakened law enforcement across the board to some degree. It was very clever of them to proactively do accomplish this in order to prepare of opposing any Republican candidate that may become a potential threat to Hillary.
I believe without a doubt that Chicago police presence was intentionally inadequte. With Mayor Rahm, that’s a pretty safe bet. That’s how these people roll—no concern for the safety of the people who would want to attend a political rally for Donald Trump. It may also be that it was more than a mere lack of concern, and an outright belief that the rally attenders deserved any violence that happened to them for even trying to attend Trump’s rally.
The protesters/anarchists were very successful in their home of Chicago, but I don’t believe that will be completely the case in other locales. However, I think that the concerted effort to weaken law enforcement has taken a toll and makes it more difficult for them to address the protesters.
Thanks, I did!
The disruptors have no right to disrupt rallies. It's like screaming "fire" in a crowded theater. Just like Black Lives Matter never should've been allowed to stop traffic, burn cities, wreak havoc in the name of a right to protest.
Could this be the time we all feared we were heading to? Having elitist Republicans enable our freedoms being taken away might be one step too far.
The police are afraid to step in. If they make one wrong move, they are demonized as the criminal. Can’t hardly blame them. Chicago police force should strike or simply quit and find jobs where people want their help.
I think Glenn Beck ought to read this.
You encountered the REAL brown shirts!
Any republican who sides them is a wimp, a coward, and probably an opportunist to boot.
Speaking of which, the Clintons are behind all the ‘brown shirt’ talk.
Link coming up in post to ‘all’.
I posted the same thought last night. The Bernie crowd isn’t angry because they don’t have jobs, they’re angry because they don’t want jobs.
How Clintons are behind the Trump KKK/Nazi Smear Campaign
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3406497/posts
’ ... The [NYT] article reported that Bill Clinton and others argued against those inclined to underestimate Trump ‘that Mr. Trump clearly had a keen sense of the electorate’s mood and that only a concerted campaign portraying him as dangerous and bigoted would win what both Clintons believe will be a close November election ...’
Anti-Defamation League
‘On February 25, the Anti-Defamation League issued a press release in which ADL National Chair Marvin D. Nathan and ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt called upon Trump ‘to distance himself from white nationalist and former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, as well as other white supremacists, and publicly condemn their racism’.’
On March 7, Greenblatt’s ADL predecessor Abraham Foxman renewed the attack on Trump, telling Times of Israel reporter Eric Cortellessa that Trump was deliberately inviting his audience to make a ‘fascist gesture’ by raising their hands to pledge to vote for him.
[How the Anti Defamation League is now Clintonista and Soros]
Greenblatt, who recently replaced Abraham Foxman at the ADL’s helm, had previously been described in 2014 by Daniel Greenfield of the David Horowitz Freedom Center as ‘a Clinton official who bummed around NGOs during the Bush years and then became Obama’s director of the White House’s Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation’. Greenfield’s article exposed Greenblatt’s association with the Aspen Institute, funded by former Nazi collaborator George Soros, who had previously been condemned as a bigot by the ADL. In September 2015, Greenblatt had painted Ben Carson as a bigot, saying, ‘Dr. Ben Carson’s statement that a Muslim American should not serve as president is deeply offensive, un-American and contrary to the Constitution.’ In December 2015, after several months of the ADL sparring with Carson, Greenfeld had issued a press release condemning Trump’s call to seal the border against Muslims.
Just a link to a first person account. Not my own.
Based on police positioning, someone coordinated police to be ineffective deliberately IMHO.
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