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Trump Rally Canceled Due To Security Concerns: Audience Erupts In Violence

By Jayce Wagner
Published on: 12:00 PST, Mar 11, 2016

In a shocking first, Donald Trump has canceled a rally at University of Illinois, Chicago, tonight due to “security concerns” as protesters infiltrated the event and clashed violently with disappointed Trump supporters. In a story that is still unfolding, protesters are running rampant in the packed stadium, chanting “Bernie,” holding up protest signs, and scuffling with Trump supporters.

“A very sad scene, this is supposed to be American democracy in action, we’re seeing people just going at each other,” said CNN reporter Jim Acosta on the scene at the Trump rally in Chicago, Illinois, tonight.

Through failed security screening, it appears that Trump protesters were able to enter the stadium (which holds a maximum of 10,000 people), along with Trump supporters against whom they continue to fight, scuffle, and violently argue – one side chanting “Bernie” and another side chanting “Trump.” It’s a chaotic scene, and according to CNN, the stadium is split half and half among Trump protesters and supporters – thousands of each packed in an enclosed space in which security has been unable to control the crowd.

“The ingredients that are present here, did not make for the right mix in terms of what Donald Trump wanted to have – there are just too many volatile elements here,” says reporter Jim Acosta, watching the scene unfold in the arena on the University of Illinois, Chicago campus.

Outside the arena, Trump supporters camped out since 3 a.m. in order to get in to see their candidate speak, and similarly, thousands of supporters have gathered inside and outside the arena.

“For the safety of all the people who have gathered in and around tonight’s rally, we have chosen to cancel the event, please go in peace,” reads a statement from the Donald Trump campaign released just minutes ago.

The Trump event attracted controversy for choosing University of Illinois to host the rally, which is in a very ethnically diverse neighborhood and attracted a tremendous outpouring of concern from the community who did not want Trump or his supporters to hold the rally at the arena on the University of Illinois, Chicago campus.

Currently, thousands (CNN estimates at least 10,000) protesters are gathered outside the arena to protest Donald Trump and his recent statements and policies. Some of the signs Trump protesters are holding up read “No Human is Illegal” and “Bernie 2016,” wearing T-shirts accusing Donald Trump of racism, islamophobia, and innumerable other slogans against the outspoken Republican presidential candidate.

“He’s going to have to issue a clear call about having peaceful rallies, he has to be very strong, or he will bear moral responsibility for violence that occurs in the future. If he keeps holding rallies like this and doesn’t change the tone, he’s going to have really really tough situations,” says Republican strategist David Gergen, speaking to CNN’s Erin Burnett. “This is a test of his leadership.”

Aside from metal detectors, there appears to have been no security screening at the event, and protesters – many clearly wearing anti-Trump shirts and holding anti-Trump signs – were allowed into the event. Ultimately, it appears that they stopped the event, forcing Trump to do something he has sworn never to do: back down.

Republican strategists have criticized the Trump campaign for its failure to adequately address and condemn violent behavior at his rallies and town hall meetings, where Trump has repeatedly suggested that his audience “knock the hell” out of protesters or those who are at the rally to disrupt it or speak against the Trump campaign as a whole.

“It was absolute bedlam in here,” said reporter Jim Acosta.

[Photo by Jonathan Gibby/Getty Images]

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