Updated at 8:04 ET
CHICAGO (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump canceled one of his signature rallies on Friday, calling off the event in Chicago due to safety concerns after protesters packed into the arena where it was to take place.
The announcement that the billionaire businessman would postpone the rally until another day led a large portion of the crowd inside the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion to break out into raucous cheers. Meanwhile, supporters of the candidate started chanting “We want Trump! We want Trump!”
There were isolated physical confrontations between some members of the crowd after the event was canceled.
There was no sign of Trump inside the arena on the college campus, where dozens of UIC faculty and staff had petitioned university administrators to cancel the rally. They cited concerns it would create a “hostile and physically dangerous environment” for students.
Before the announcement the event wouldn’t take place, a handful of intense verbal clashes took place betweenTrump supporters and protesters as the crowd waited for his arrival. For the first time during his White House bid, the crowd appeared to be an equal mix of those eager to cheer on the real estate mogul and those overtly opposed to his candidacy.
When one African-American protester was escorted out before the event started, the crowd erupted into chants of “Let them stay!”
FULL STMT RE: @realDonaldTrump rally in Chicago being postponed: pic.twitter.com/M33GdkTi83
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorpNBC) March 12, 2016
Veronica Kowalkowsky, an 18-year-old Trump supporter, said before the event started that she had no ill will toward the protesters — but didn’t think they felt the same way.
“I feel a lot of hate,” she said. “I haven’t said anything bad to anyone.”
Hours before the event was scheduled to start, hundreds of people lined up outside the arena at the University of Illinois at Chicago — a civil and immigrant rights organizing hub with large minority student populations. Trumpbackers were separated from an equally large crowd of anti-Trump protesters by a heavy police presence and barricades.
Some Trump supporters walking into the area chanted, “USA! USA!” and “Illegal is illegal.” One demonstrator shouted back, “Racist!”
One protester, 64-year-old Dede Rottman of Chicago, carried a placard that read: “Build a Wall Around Trump. I’ll Pay for it.”
However, 19-year-old Rusty Shackleford of Lombard, in line to attend the Trump rally, said he was there to “support the man who wants to make America great again.”
Chicago community activist Quo Vadis said hundreds of protesters had positioned themselves in groups around the arena, and that they intend to demonstrate right after Trump takes the stage. Their goal, he said, is “for Donald to take the stage and to completely interrupt him. The plan is to shut Donald Trump all the way down.”
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Follow Jill Colvin on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/colvinj
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Personally, what happened in Chicago bothers me a hell of a lot less than what is happening in the media. Occupy Democrats says, “Trump’s rhetoric is so dangerous that civil disobedience is FULLY warranted.” I do so love it when people protest the next Hitler by emulating him. Makes me all warm and fuzzy to be associated with them.
Or not. Sorry, but principles only count when living up to them hurts you, not the other guy.
"Whether trump - the man, not the politician - is a racist is irrelevant.
What is revenant is how his rhetoric has inspired hate and incited the frightening violence we see unfolded in real time in Chicago. Every black man sucker-punched, every Muslim women ejected, every handicapped person mocked, every black woman repeatedly shoved and pushed, and every Latino journalist thrown out of a Trump rally is coordinated political theater - stirring up racist frenzy and pushing his supportors to the ballet box in droves.
For demagogues, what they actually believe is far less important than they buy into. And Trump has wholly invested in racism and bigotry as the theme of his pep rallies, the core of his message, and the foundation of his campaign."
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I find it interesting that some people think that the Trump rally was Free Speech being shut down. It was Free Speech rising up to stop Hate Speech.
I would so like to see Trump have a conversation like this with a journalist…
Q: So, Mr Trump, you have said that your crowds have some violent tendencies because they are ‘so angry’. Do you think that people such as this with obvious impulse control and anger management issues should be put on the firearms no-buy list?
T: At this point Trump would probably try to deflect the question and attack the reporter as a way to avoid answering the question.
Q: So, Mr Trump, you obviously have a great deal of trust when it comes to your supporters… Would you trust them enough to make your rallies a posted open carry zone?
T: Trump would then (probably) again attempt to deflect the question and change the subject.
Q: You clearly don’t think that allowing your supporters to carry guns at your rallies is a good idea… so, why would you allow them to circulate in the greater society armed with lethal weapons?