Tense Protests Near Donald Trump's California Speech Site
Comes after violent protests erupted at his Los Angeles event Thursday.
— -- Protesters gathered outside a California venue today as Donald Trump prepared to speak there.
The street outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Burlingame, where Trump was going to address the California GOP Convention near San Francisco, was closed in advance of the event.
There were an estimated 250 to 300 protesters gathered outside from a collection of different groups, including Code Pink and Black Lives Matter, as well as supporters of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
Trump likely did not see any of the protests because he entered the building via a back entrance after exiting his motorcade at the side of the highway and walking up a grassy hill before entering the hotel.
"That was not the easiest entrance I've ever made... it felt like I was crossing the border actually," Trump joked at the beginning of his remarks.
"I'm coming through dirt and mud and under fences. … I’m looking at myself I’m trying to get all the dust and everything off," Trump said.
Frank Lara, 30, was one of the 40 or so members of the Act Now to Stop War & End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition who protested Trump near the front of the hotel. Even though he said the group's initial goal was to shut down the convention, Lara told ABC News that they were not disappointed that Trump didn't go through the main entrance since helicopter news cameras captured Trump's awkward alternative route.
"We consider it quite a success," Lara said.
Lara said they started planning the protests about two weeks ago after learning that Trump would be in the area, taking issue with his stances "against immigrants, against the Latin community and against the Muslim community."
Some protesters were seen holding the Mexican flag and others were wearing costumes. A group of protesters knocked down a barrier near the front of the hotel and about 50 people got close to the entrance but did not get inside. Police then formed a line to hold them back which appeared to work for the time being.
One man wearing a green bandanna over his face was seen punching the glass windows of the hotel, and others yelled at him to stop saying "we're not about that." He didn't cause any damage, but others like him seem determined to get inside the Hyatt Regency
Some protesters threw eggs at the hotel, others chased a man wearing a Trump t-shirt off the property.
A campaign organizer for Code Pink, a grassroots peace organization of women, said that one of their supporters booked her a room in the Hyatt overnight.
The supporter, Nancy Mancias, stayed there until this morning before she went down to the convention floor at around 9:30 a.m. and started chanting "Stop hate! Dump Trump!"
Mancias said she was quickly, but gently, escorted out of the building by hotel security. She said they had been planning it for about a week and was on the fence initially, saying she "was worried about being thrown into jail or Guantanamo" but decided to go for it.
"As I got closer, I just decided, you know someone's got to do it and what would be better than a protester from Code Pink?" she told ABC News.
A man wearing a suit and a "Make America Great Again" hat was seen walking near a group of protesters, some of whom were seen hitting the man, who was believed to be a supporter of the Republican front-runner.
Other than the above incident, today's protests were said to be largely peaceful, which comes in contrast to the protests that were held near a Trump event in Los Angeles Thursday night. More than a dozen arrests were made and some protesters were seen damaging police cars.