Arrests made after scuffle breaks out at California Trump rally


A scuffle broke out on popular a Southern California beach where supporters of President Donald Trump were marching when a couple hundred counter-protesters doused organizers with pepper spray, authorities said Saturday. The violence erupted when the march of about 2,000 people at Bolsa Chica State Beach reached a group of about 30 counter-protesters, some of whom began spraying the irritant, said Capt. Kevin Pearsall of the California State Parks Police.Two people suffered minor injuries but did not require medical attention, Captain Pearsall said. Video footage from social media uploaded to the Los Angeles Times' website showed a chaotic scene with men fighting in the sand and a group of Trump supporters, some carrying flags, chasing a hooded man in a black mask away after he had pepper-sprayed an unsuspecting female Trump rally participator. He was chased from the beach and on to a freeway where he was stopped by officers of the California Highway Patrol. Counter-protesters said before the march began that they planned to try to stop the march's progress with a "human wall", however they were significantly outnumbered and could not achieve their goal of stopping the rally.The fights appeared to start in the early afternoon when around a dozen anti-Trump protesters dressed in all black, usually associated with Antifa and other violent anarchist groups, refused to move from the bike path to allow the larger group of pro-Trump supporters taking part in the Make America Great Again rally to pass.The confrontation escalated into a fight with more skirmishes quickly breaking out. Ultimately four counter-protesters were arrested, three for illegal use of pepper spray and one for assault and battery, Kevin Pearsall, a spokesman for the California State Parks Police said on Saturday evening. Earlier this month, a rally in Berkeley, California, in support of Trump turned violent, after anarchist counter-Trump protesters assaulted members of the pro-Trump rally. Several clashes and vandalism over the night lead to the arrest of 10 people.