Kaitlin L Lange

IndyStar

Seven people were arrested and two police officers received minor injuries during an anti-Trump rally in Indianapolis Saturday evening. Three of those arrested were not from Indy.

The protest that started at the Statehouse was mostly peaceful until later in the evening when police used what appeared to be a pepper gun on some protesters walking in the street.

After rallying at the Statehouse and walking towards the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, the group splintered in two. On Facebook, the rally was set to end at 8 p.m., but a sizable portion of people continued to march, and police began asking protesters to get on the sidewalks around that time.

One group stopped at the corner of Washington and Illinois streets. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said at that point, protesters started chanting threats, such as, "Kill the police."

Police decided to arrest two of the instigators. That's when police said some protesters started throwing rocks at officers. IMPD Chief Troy Riggs said they received reports of protesters who had brought backpacks full of rocks. Around that time, police fired their non-lethal weapon.

People responded in anger with chants of, "Black lives matter" and "Hands up, don't shoot." Half an hour later the crowd started to disperse.

Later five more arrests were made. Police also said there was no property damage.

About 500 people initially gathered peacefully at the Statehouse at 5 p.m., alternating between chanting and giving impassioned speeches, in protest of the election of Donald Trump.

After a couple of hours, the protesters marched through Downtown and around the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. Police officers blocked traffic in response throughout the Downtown area.

"We wanted to make sure their first amendment rights were protected, even to the point where we shut down traffic,"Riggs said.

Though the march turned violent temporarily, most of the night was peaceful.

For hours, a megaphone was passed between those who wanted to speak out against Trump. Some were immigrants, some were from the LGBT community, others were "Black Lives Matter" supporters. While they all united against Trump, each people-group had something different that they brought up.

A common theme ran through the demonstration: "Love trumps hate."

At other times, protesters chanted expletives, or other negative comments about Trump.

"Donald Trump is not the one in power, we are the ones in power," one man yelled with a megaphone. The crowd responded with cheers.

Carolia Clark, a woman born in Germany, compared what happened with Trump's election to what happened in Germany in the 1930s, when Adolf Hitler rose to power.

"We need to go into schools where children are chanting stuff they heard from their parents," she said.

Another speaker touched on his own fear as an immigrant. Rudy Best came to the U.S. when he was just 10 months old. He said he has no country besides the United States.

"Because the election, we feel fear, we feel the hate and fear and what’s going to happen," Best said. "And that’s not going to stop. We want change in a civil way as we’re marching."

Only a handful of Trump supporters were seen at the rally. A military-style truck also was spotted with a large Trump sign, driving around in circles around the Statehouse, honking. Others came to peacefully talk with demonstrators, they said.

Before the march, state police kicked out one man who was holding a gas canister as a precaution.

Demonstrations also were seen Saturday in Chicago; New York; Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; and elsewhere on the fourth day of anti-Trump protests across the nation.

Riggs said they'll be ready if any other protests are planned in the city.

"We have to say as a city, no matter where you stand politically, that we are not going to tolerate violence in our city," Riggs said. "We’re not going to tolerate violence against our police."

Follow IndyStar reporter Kaitlin Lange on Twitter: @kaitlin_lange.

Thousands march in 4th day of anti-Trump protests