Anti-Donald Trump protesters ramp up tension outside California GOP convention

BURLINGAME >> Real estate tycoon and Republican presidential front-ruer Donald Trump is speaking at the Califoia Republican convention.

His speech to the state’s GOP faithful began after hundreds of protesters gathered outside the convention were determined to block his entrance when his motorcade arrives at the Hyatt Regency. The protesters banged drums and shouted slogans near a phalanx of police, holding signs such as “Capitalism Kills” and “No Hate, No Racism and No Trump.”

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Trump was forced to enter the hotel through a back entrance after walking through a grassy area after his motorcade -- which was headed north on a Highway 101 service road -- suddenly stopped close to the hotel.

Harmeet Dhillon, a San Francisco resident who is vice chairwoman of the Califoia Republican Party, told CNN this moing that the protesters had delayed Trump’s arrival -- although it was immediately unclear why protesters on the ground would delay Trump’s plane.

Inside the Hyatt Regency, delegates and paid attendees waited in a long security line, along with dozens of reporters, to enter the banquet hall where Trump will speak. Some of the delegates sported GOP-red outfits.

Bill Gilbert, a retired San Francisco police lieutenant, said he paid $100 to hear more of Trump’s “common-sense” ideas for improving the country.

“I like what he says. He’s for America and business,” said Gilbert, 71, of Woodside. “I think he’d be good for the country.”

But Jack Beebee, a microbiology student at San Jose State, said she wasn’t there to protest Trump -- not so much because of his policies but because of his brand of populism. “I’m here to redress grievances now preemptively,” she said.

The protesters carried signs supporting every idea on the progressive political spectrum, from “STOP HATE -- a baer expressing that sentiment was unfurled inside the hotel atrium and then quickly pulled down -- to “free the nipple.”

A group of women and one man walked through the scrum topless, wearing pasties that demanded liberation for the very body parts they were barely covering.

A Trump supporter walking toward the hotel was surrounded by protesters. Witnesses said the man did nothing to provoke the crowd except wear a Trump hat.

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Protest organizer Cat Brooks told Bay City News: “We’re here because Trump has used the largest platform in the world to issue a message of hate and invite violence against marginalized communities.”

Brooks said the candidate espouses anti-black, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant views.

After Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, some held the view that it indicated a post-racial society, according to Brooks, but Trump’s rise has demonstrated that belief is false.

“He has exposed what we have always known is alive and here in America and that is a deeply anti-black sentiment,” Brooks said.

All three remaining Republican presidential candidates will speak this weekend as the convention continues with a dier banquet this evening featuring Ohio Gov. John Kasich and a lunch banquet on Saturday with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, recently aounced as Cruz’s ruing mate, will host a dier banquet on Saturday night.

Burlingame police said in a statement on Thursday night that they are preparing for the expected protests against Trump by drawing officers from law enforcement agencies throughout the region.

“Plaing efforts are focused on guaranteeing that protesters are freely able to exercise their First Amendment rights, while ensuring the safety of both the protesters as well as those attending various events at the convention,” Burlingame police said in a statement.

Trump started his Califoia visit Thursday night with a rally in Costa Mesa in Orange County. Protestors clashed with police outside and scuffled with Trump supporters leaving the event. One news photographer captured a man wearing a Trump T-shirt whose face had been bloodied. About 20 people were arrested.

The address at a lunch banquet at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport kicks off the 2016 gathering, where Trump and the other remaining candidates -- Sen. Ted Cruz, of Texas, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich -- will make their pitch to hundreds of party officials and millions of Califoians watching on TV or the inteet.

Polls show Trump has a commanding lead in Califoia. Trump got the support of 49 percent of likely Republican primary voters, followed by Cruz with 22 percent and Kasich with 20 percent, according to a Fox News poll released April 22.

After sweeping five states on the East Coast in convincing fashion Tuesday, the businessman and reality TV star is well on his way toward clinching the Republican nomination. But a strong performance in Califoia would help him reach the magic number of 1,237 delegates and avoid a showdown with anti-Trump forces in July at the Republican National Convention.

“If his goal is to get the nomination on the first ballot, he has to take a large portion of the vote in Califoia,” said Bill Whalen, a research fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. “For Cruz and Kasich, this is the last line of defense in preventing Trump from getting to 1,237.”

Ken Khachigian, a longtime Republican strategist and former speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan, said Trump, who has relied largely on instincts and media exposure so far in dominating the Republican field, will need to roll up his sleeves and think through how to appeal to Califoia’s various diverse constituencies.

“I do think if Trump’s going to pull this off, he’s going to have to study Califoia really hard,” he said.

The candidates are competing for 172 delegates in Califoia, 159 of which will be awarded by congressional district. Wiing one of the state’s 53 congressional districts nets a candidate three delegates. Whoever wins the popular vote June 7 will secure the remaining 13 delegates.

Kasich is scheduled to address the convention at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Cruz will give a speech at noon Saturday, followed by his ruing mate, Carly Fiorina, at 7:30 p.m. None of the events is open to the public.