Chicago Police said five people were arrested amid the chaos that erupted following the announcement that Donald Trump would be postponing his appearance at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion.
Interim Chicago Police Superintendent John Escalante said at a Friday evening press conference two arrests were made by his department, two were made by the UIC police, and one was made by state police.
Additionally, two CPD officers were wounded – both with non life-threatening injuries – though one officer was struck on the head by a bottle. A video posted on social media shows an officer with an apparent head wound at Van Buren and Racine.
"It is unfortunate that parties on both sides allowed their political views to become confrontational, and that's unfortunately resulted in that scuffling and the arrests that were made," Escalante said. "We were confident that we had the right security for the event and the protesters as well."
Escalante wouldn’t say if it would have been safer to continue with the protest.
"We were actually kind of taken by surprised, but when we first heard the rumor that it might be canceled, that’s when we called in the additional 100 officers," Escalante said.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel released a statement late Friday, praising the CPD for their "hard work tonight in unexpected circumstances, and their continued commitment to protecting people’s first amendment rights.”
The Republican presidential front-runner was scheduled to speak at the arena at 6 p.m., with doors opening at 3 p.m.
When the announcement of the postponement was made, the crowd burst into shouts and cheers, and some scuffles broke out in the minutes after the announcement was made. Some people could be seen yelling at each other or making vulgar gestures; multiple punches were thrown. A man who took the podium was escorted away by
