Clashes broke out at a rally held Saturday on Saturday supporting President Donald Trump’s border wall in Otay Mesa, California, as left-wing counter-protesters taunted them and chanted for amnesty for illegal aliens.
According to the local CBS affiliate:
The rumble ensued when a small group of counter-protestors started a chant from the rear of the gathering, apparently yelling “Racists go home!”
A group of wall supporters equal in size carrying flags moved in quickly and engaged in a shouting match with the other side as deputies and police stood by. What began as face-to-face shouting and chest bumping escalated, and seconds after the first shove by a counter-protester the first punch was thrown by a wall supporter.
That fight spawned several others, and in every direction, small huddles of people were kicking up dust — some trying to pull foes off of grounded and outnumbered friends, others turning flags upside down and taking their best shot at opponents’ heads and bodies.
There were no injuries and no arrests.
Videos circulated on social media depicting the clashes (content warning).
Some activists supporting the wall drove from as far away as Arizona to attend:
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) was on hand to support the border wall activists (videos courtesy Arthur Christopher Schaper via YouTube):
“Angel Moms,” who have lost relatives to homicides by illegal aliens, also spoke at the rally:
The San Diego Union-Tribune interviewed counter-demonstrators:
The border wall is a “xenophobic act, reminiscent of Nazi Germany,” said Rafael Bautista, 33, of southeast San Diego. Bautista, who helped organize the protest but isn’t affiliated with a single group, said he migrated to the U.S. from Mexico at the age of 4 and has family on both sides of the border.
“They want to put up walls between two shades of color,” he said. “This is exactly the opposite of what we want in this country.”
Groups sponsoring the rally included “San Diegans for Secure Borders, Unite America First, Frontline America, San Diego Patriots, Latinos for Trump, Make America Great PAC and other pro-border wall groups,” according to the local CBS affiliate.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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