A clash between Donald Trump supporters and opponents turned ugly when a demonstrator pepper sprayed five people, including two young girls

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Supporters and opponents of Donald Trump have clashed in Anaheim, and police say five people – including two young girls – were pepper-sprayed by a demonstrator during the heated confrontation.



No serious injuries and no arrests were reported in the clash Tuesday afternoon as about 50 people confronted each other outside city hall, before the city council was to discuss a proposed resolution to condemn what it calls Trump’s divisive rhetoric.

One man unleashed pepper spray into the pro-Trump crowd.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Trump supporters yells at anti-Trump protesters in Anaheim. Photograph: Leonard Ortiz/AP

Police sergeant Daron Wyatt says five people, including an 11-year-old girl and an eight-year-old girl, were exposed to the eye-stinging spray. Three were treated at the scene by paramedics.

Wyatt said the man fled and police were looking for him.

One woman wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat comforted the girls, whose faces were streaked with tears. The girls complained that their eyes and mouths hurt.

“I can feel it now, it’s pungent,” the woman, Lilia Zapatos, told KNBC-TV minutes after she was sprayed.

Linda Reedy, a member of the pro-Trump group We the People Rising, pressed an ice pack to her face after being hit by the spray.

The anti-Trump group goaded her and her friends, and one man jumped on one of her friends, she said.

“I just think they’re so out of control,” Reedy told the Los Angeles Times. “I’m so sick of the anger in this country.”

The confrontation occurred before the city council was expected to discuss a proposed resolution to condemn what the resolution called Trump’s divisive rhetoric.

The motion said Trump’s remarks which have been perceived as offensive to Mexican immigrants, Muslims and other groups are contrary to constitutional principles and don’t reflect Anaheim’s “guiding principles of inclusiveness and kindness”.

But Reedy told the Orange County Register that she considers the resolution as “un-American”.

“I’m a Trump supporter, but I’m here to support free speech,” she said. “Anaheim has more important things to worry about. What she’s doing is un-American.”

The clash came as Trump scored a five-state east coast sweep Tuesday to embolden his hopes of clinching the Republican presidential nomination without a battle at the convention.