HUNTINGTON BEACH – Multiple fights broke out between a small group of protestors and hundreds of Trump supporters during a “Make America Great Again” march at Bolsa Chica State Beach on Saturday, March 25.
The march aimed to be a peaceful, family-friendly event to showcase national support for President Donald Trump, veterans and the armed forces based on the local Facebook event page.
The event also collected donations for both veterans and the homeless.
As soon as the event was initiated via social media, a protesting group aiming to counter the march began to plan their own as well.
A large group of Trump supporters gathered at the beach where it began with a mini-concert, speeches from head organizers of the march and veterans, prayer and the singing of the national anthem.
Soon after, the supporters energetically marched towards Huntington Beach, proudly waving all of their flags and holding up their posters.
The march route would pass by SeaLegs on the Beach, a beachfront restaurant at Bolsa Chica, where they would meet with the counter protesters who formed a human wall in attempt to block the supporters’ path.
Physical confrontation broke out once both groups met; quickly escalating from pushes, cursing and shoving to hand-to-hand contact.
Some of the supporters, including Jennifer Sterling, one of the organizers of the event, were pepper sprayed by protesters during the incident.
After the initial fights dispersed, most marchers continued to walk towards Huntington Beach and others debated with a few of the remaining counter protesters.
As supporters returned from marching, more protesters gathered at the roundabout turn on Pacific and Warner avenues.
A second confrontation began with chants from the supporters telling the counter protesters to board a public bus, which was passing, coined by them as “the immigration bus”.
The group of counter protesters, who wore “F*** Trump” T-shirts and held signs of anti-Trump propaganda, replied to the marchers calling them Nazis, white supremacists, while swearing.
While some exchanges got physical, most remained vocal.
Around 3 p.m., the scheduled end time of the event, tempers cooled off and both sides parted ways.
