SAN JOSE — Fourteen people who attended a Donald Trump rally in San Jose last month filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday against the city, mayor and police chief, claiming city leaders failed to protect them from assaults by protesters as they left the event.

“Law-abiding citizens leaving the Trump rally were victimized by being forced by armed police to walk into a riot in full swing where many were assaulted while police looked on,” said the plaintiffs’ attorney, Harmeet K. Dhillon, who is also the vice chair of the California Republican Party.

Dhillon says her clients range from a 14-year-old allegedly assaulted by two different individuals and denied assistance by the San Jose Fire Department to a 71-year-old woman who said her glasses were ripped off and destroyed by three rioters.

The lawsuit, which also named a handful of alleged assailants and 38 unknown rioters, claims the city’s failure to restrain protesters opposed to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee violated Trump supporters’ rights to free speech and peaceful assembly. It seeks compensation and injunctive relief for injuries they suffered during the rally.

City Attorney Rick Doyle said Thursday the city hasn’t yet been served with the lawsuit.

“I really can’t comment until we have a chance to review it,” Doyle said, “but from what I know, the police did everything they could.”

Protesters have decried Trump as a racist for his remarks calling for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border where he says foreign criminals have had unchecked access into the country, and his suggestions to restrict entry from predominantly Muslim countries to thwart terrorism.

After his appearance at the June 2 rally in the McEnery Convention Center downtown, violence broke out as Trump supporters exited. Police tried to separate the groups but drew criticism for not being more aggressive in stopping assaults or arresting violent protesters.

Police said there are 24 reported victims, as many suspects identified, and that they have made 22 arrests.

Mayor Sam Liccardo said in a statement the following morning: “While it’s a sad statement about our political discourse that Mr. Trump has focused on stirring antagonism instead of offering real solutions to our nation’s challenges, there is absolutely no place for violence against people who are simply exercising their rights to participate in the political process.”

That and his remarks to a reporter that Trump “needs to take responsibility for the irresponsible behavior of his campaign” drew widespread criticism primarily from conservatives and Trump supporters that the mayor was excusing the attacks and blaming the victims.

Dhillon said her clients shouldn’t have felt their lives were at risk during a political event, or that their rights are “somehow less important” just because of their political views. She alleged that the “inaction” of San Jose police officers “was colored by political viewpoint considerations.”

Liccardo, a backer of Hillary Clinton, also was accused of ordering officers to stand down as Trump supporters were being attacked, a claim police Chief Eddie Garcia has called “absurd.” Liccardo, he added, called him the night of the rally, but didn’t tell him how to handle the event.

“I have a lot of control over my officers, but my officers do not know the meaning of the term stand down,” Garcia said at the time. “They would not follow that order nor would I ever expect them to.”

Liccardo said Thursday he has no authority to issue such an order.

“The ludicrous accusation that I somehow directed the police department to ‘stand down’ at the rally is utterly false,” he said in a statement.

Contact Ramona Giwargis at 408-920-5705. Follow her at Twitter.com/ramonagiwargis.