FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – More than 300 people gathered down the street from where former Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff Joe Arpaio was speaking Friday at the Fresno County Republican Party’s dinner in Fresno.
Arpaio was the guest speaker inside while outside the venue, the line of people filling the sidewalks grew, and there was much shouting back and forth between the factions; “Dump trump, save DACA,” others calling people “communists.”
Tensions began growing, and then Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer arrived and walked the line while more than a dozen officers cleared the middle of Phillips Streets and kept demonstrators from converging.
Chief Dyer, smiling as he walked around talking to people, listened to a man and a woman having a heated exchange, but no violence occurred.
Fresno’s Police Chief said his tactics had been worked out carefully before the event to keep it conflict free.
There were people recognizable from other anti-Republican protests, and alternately pro-Trump rallies, one woman had been detained at a previous Devin Nunes luncheon.
Some people were wearing masks, like the man (seen above) who identified himself only as being from California, and saying he would not lift his mask to speak with KMJ News because; “I will be killed, don’t want that.”
Concerns over possible violence had the Fresno County Republican Party move the event to the Sunnyside Events Center, so that Joe Arpaio wouldn’t have to face a much larger crowd of protesters.
Arpaio’s appearance was criticized by the Fresno County Democratic Party, who said they would peacefully call attention to the senselessness of featuring him at this GOP fund-raiser, their social media hashtags; #flashmob and #jailhouserocksarpaio
Click below to listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern:
