Donald Trump held two events in Pittsburgh and both were met with large organized protests. The first event took place in the Oakland neighborhood, which is also home to the University of Pittsburgh. Trump’s event, which will later air on Hannity, took place around 5:30 p.m. and as his thousands of supporters spilled down the steps of Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and onto Fifth Avenue, hundreds of protesters took to the streets to make their voices heard.
As the gathered crowd was waiting in line for entrance to the event, hundreds of protesters lined the steps. The crowd of supporters was mostly white and roughly half of them were middle-aged or elderly, while the gathered protesters were overwhelmingly college-aged. The line of supporters to enter the event was far beyond what the venue could hold and hundreds were turned away.
Donald Trump’s motorcade arrived more than an hour before the event. One supporter described the motorcade as “outrageous” and a “waste of our tax dollars.” The usual crowd of Pittsburgh T-shirt sellers were on hand selling shirts with slogans like “Hillary sucks, but not like Monica” and “Make America Great Again” hats could be spotted throughout the gathered crowd. One of the sellers on hand said that he hated Trump, but “it’s just cotton.”
Shortly before Donald Trump was scheduled to take the stage with Sean Hannity, a group of protesters marched through the line, across the lawn, and onto Fifth Avenue, where they blocked traffic and began their march holding signs reading, “Trump is a lizard person” and others that admonished Trump’s racist and sexist remarks. While the protesters marched, they were followed by a significant police presence, which escorted them Downtown to the next event held at the David Lawrence Convention Center. The protesters significantly altered the flow of traffic, delaying commuters and Port Authority transit.
One group of Trump supporters allegedly from the West Virginia University clashed with a University of Pittsburgh student on Atwood Street. After launching into a tirade of insults and homophobic slurs, one of the supporters attempted to knock the phone from Aaron Gabriel’s hand. The supporter in question was openly consuming alcohol on the street, violating state open container laws. Aside from this incident, the protests in Pittsburgh remained non-violent.
Another protest took place in Pittsburgh’s Strip District and was organized by Democratic Senate candidate and Braddock Mayor John Fetterman. Fetterman spoke at the “Trump is a Jagoff” rally, which drew dozens of attendants and highlighted Trump’s “ignorant rhetoric towards immigrants.”
When protesters finally reached the event Downtown, they blocked the main entrance to the event. Trump supporters lined up outside the Convention Center chanting “U-S-A!” in response to the protesters, but were drowned out by the hundreds of protesters. Ralph Iannotti reported that at least one person was arrested during the protests and that two police officers had been pepper sprayed.
More than 4,500 Trump supporters had gathered at the Convention Center, considerably less than the 8,500 that gathered for Bernie Sanders earlier this month. Police stopped admitting attendants to the event at 7:38 p.m. Trump spoke for around 45 minutes, promising to bring back Pittsburgh’s coal and steel industries along with his usual talking points. Strangely, Trump also promised to bring back deceased Penn State football coach Joe Paterno. He finished his speech with his trademark promise to “Make America Great Again.”
Protesters continued to block streets until being cleared from the area around 9:10 p.m. It has been reported that the Pittsburgh anti-Trump protests are some of the largest to date.
Image via Getty/Joe Photographer
