MIAMI, Oct. 24 (UPI) — Protesters interrupted a campaign stop for presidential candidate Donald Trump three times on October 23 in Miami, with limited effect on the rally as Trump and his supporters were only galvanized by the opposition.
The campaign stop, held in a ballroom at the Trump National Doral Miami, was the billionaire’s first in Miami since he started running for the White House. A stop in Jacksonville also drew protesters, who gathered outside Jacksonville Landing hours before Trump was due to speak, though that event was not interrupted.
Trump said the interruptions didn’t bother him because “that’s what freedom of speech is about,” however he was progressively less accepting of the continued interruptions, The Hill reported.
“Don’t hurt ’em, don’t hurt ’em. You can get them out, just don’t hurt them,” Trump told security after the first couple interruptions, though he told the crowd his patience would wear thin the more it happened. “The third group, I’ll be a little more violent, and the fourth group, I’ll say, ‘Get the hell out of here!'”
The rabble-rousing candidate ripped his Republican primary competitors and talked about the commanding lead he has built in the crowded race for the GOP presidential nomination, according to the Washington Post.
Protesters in heavily-Hispanic Miami focused on Trump’s proposals for immigration, including the construction of giant wall along the southern border of the United States and deportation for all undocumented immigrants regardless of how long they have been in the country or if they were born here.
The interruptions came as Trump emphasized that he “will build the wall,” according to CBSMiami, with one protester shouting as they were taken out to “Keep families together! Stop the deportation, it costs us money.”
Echoing the candidate himself, one Trump supporter shouted back as the protesters were led out of the ballroom to “go back where you came from.”
