Hundreds of protesters have rallied outside Trump Tower in Manhattan while demonstrators briefly shut down an Arizona highway leading to a campaign rally for Donald Trump. At least one person was arrested at the tower on New York’s famous Fifth Avenue during a brief skirmish on Saturday, as demonstrators voiced their opposition to the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination.
“Donald Trump, go away, racist, sexist, anti-gay,” shouted the demonstrators who gathered at Manhattan’s Columbus Circle, near one of the billionaire real estate mogul’s luxury buildings overlooking Central Park. Amid a considerable police presence, protesters held up signs that read “Deport Trump” and “Build a wall around Trump”.
Earlier, demonstrators blocked a major road in Arizona in the latest attempts by opponents to disrupt the campaign of the top US Republican White House hopeful who staged a campaign rally on Saturday just days ahead of the Arizona primary. Tempers flared at the rally itself, but without the violence that marred Trump’s event in Chicago a week earlier. A handful of people were arrested, police and witnesses said.
New York’s demonstration was organised by a group called Cosmopolitan Antifascists and included immigrants’ rights activists, students and socialists. “I think Donald Trump is speaking a message of fascism and racism, and I don’t think that’s good for America,” said Laura Merrill, a tour guide who supports Democratic Bernie Sanders for president.
