Protesters interrupt Trump Vermont rally despite screening

“We have more than 20,000 people that showed up for 1,400 spots”.

Brothers and lifelong Burlington residents Mike and Rod Dion arrived at about 8 a.m. Nine hours later, both took the Trump pledge, saying they “absolutely” supported the candidate, although both say they still aren’t absolutely sure.

“I think he’s a great guy. And he knows how to run a business”, said Jim Billado, who owns a commercial roofing business. And I agree with a lot of his positions on various issues.

Deputy Burlington Police Chief Jan Wright told necn the event was a success from a public safety standpoint and that there were no significant problems that arose between rally attendees and protesters.

Trump opponents also turned out early and shouted back and forth with supporters as they filtered into the theater.

“Here’s a man who represents a rising, racist and fascist movement across the country”.

“And it’s the responsibility, in my opinion, of citizens to rise up and meet that challenge and say, ‘That is not the kind of world we want to live in, ‘” he said.

Trump’s campaign gave away almost 20,000 free tickets to the rally, many of which were snapped up by Sanders supporters, Trump haters or others who wanted him to have an empty theater. Trump asked. “That’s bait”.

“I thought I heard a little voice over there”, Trump said, seemingly encouraging the rowdy crowd.

“It would be a dream come true for me as well”, Sanders said. “The strategy behind his appearance here appears to me to be calculated to generate strife rather than to actually build his support”.

Trump went from amusement to impatience as the interruptions continued, suggesting security needed to step it up in removing the interlopers – and teach them a bone-chilling lesson.

“I will get rid of gun-free zones on schools – you have to – and on military bases on my first day”.

“It didn’t take long for folks around me to get agitated per say and start to go after me”, Majerus-Collins said.

Even though this choice seemed more than interesting, Donald Trump had one precise goal: criticizing Bernie Sanders in the state he represents and gathering attention from New Hampshire voters, the state which holds the first primary, scheduled for next month. Security personnel removed about two dozen protesters after about six protests during the course of the night.

“Don’t give them their coats”, Trump added. “You can keep his coat; tell him we’ll send it to him in a couple of weeks”, Trump told security. I mean, think of it. A gun-free zone on a military base with some of the best soldiers we have sitting there relaxing, watching television, no gun.

Throughout the speech, Trump took shots at pretty much every other politician of note – including other Republican presidential candidates, Obama and Hillary Clinton.

The event was held in the city where Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders served as mayor in the 1980s.

On Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders’s home turf, some of the protesters wore shirts emblazoned with Sanders logos hidden under their sweatshirts. “He wants to run against me. I have a friend in my campaign very attuned to Vermont”, he said.