--- title: Donald Trump Protest: Police Make Arrests Outside Rally description: Both of Donald Trump's rallies in California on Friday were met by protesters, some of whom clashed with law enforcement and were arrested canonical: https://time.com/4351370/donald-trump-san-diego-california-protest/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-28T14:48:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:07.906Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Thanks Police For 'Handling the Thugs' After Protesters Arrested og:description: Tension rose between protesters and police at Donald Trump's San Diego rally og:url: https://time.com/4351370/donald-trump-san-diego-california-protest/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf1876afbbca8306/698895733c16397f9145d71c/donald-trump-san-diego.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4005 og:image:height: 2253 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-REPUBLICAN-TRUMP og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Thanks Police For 'Handling the Thugs' After Protesters Arrested twitter:description: Tension rose between protesters and police at Donald Trump's San Diego rally twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf1876afbbca8306/698895733c16397f9145d71c/donald-trump-san-diego.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Thanks Police for 'Handling the Thugs' After Protesters Arrested > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 28, 2016 2:48 PM UTC  Police move in to remove anti-Trump protesters during a protest rally outside Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's event in San Diego, California, on May 27. Police move in to remove anti-Trump protesters during a protest rally outside Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's event in San Diego, California, on May 27.Mark Ralston—AFP/Getty Images)  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 28, 2016 2:48 PM UTC Both of Donald Trump’s rallies in California on Friday were [met by protesters](http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/27/politics/donald-trump-san-diego-protesters/), some of whom clashed with law enforcement and were arrested, prompting Trump to thank police for “handling the thugs.” “Fantastic job on handling the thugs who tried to disrupt our very peaceful and well attended rally,” Trump [tweeted to the San Diego Police Department](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/736388616214220801) on Friday night. “Greatly appreciated!” While protesters gathered outside a rally in Fresno earlier in the day, Trump’s San Diego rally drew a larger crowd. About 35 people were arrested Friday outside Trump’s rally in San Diego, where about 1,000 protesters had gathered, [CNN reported](http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/27/politics/donald-trump-san-diego-protesters/). The Associated Press reported that about a dozen people were arrested. Police attempted to disperse the crowd in San Diego, declaring the protest unlawful after shouting matches broke out and people threw trash at one another, the AP reported. At another point, tension rose as police officers wearing riot gear and wielding batons shoved protesters back to keep them from Trump supporters. Police also used pepper spray on several protesters, according to CNN. But for the most part, the gathering merely involved shouting and chanting, the network reported. The signs and chants of both Trump’s supporters and opponents made reference to his controversial comments on immigration and his [plan to build a wall](http://time.com/4281926/donald-trump-mexico-border-wall-explanation/) along the Mexican border. There were no reports of injuries or property damage at the San Diego protest, [according to NBC](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/more-protests-follow-trump-day-california-rallies-n581951). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4351370/donald-trump-san-diego-california-protest/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4351370/donald-trump-san-diego-california-protest/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Thanks Police for 'Handling the Thugs' After Protesters Arrested","datePublished":"2016-05-28T14:48:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:07.906Z","description":"Tension rose between protesters and police outside Trump's San Diego rally","url":"https://time.com/4351370/donald-trump-san-diego-california-protest/","keywords":["Donald Trump","California","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf1876afbbca8306/698895733c16397f9145d71c/donald-trump-san-diego.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf1876afbbca8306/698895733c16397f9145d71c/donald-trump-san-diego.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-VOTE-REPUBLICAN-TRUMP","caption":"US-VOTE-REPUBLICAN-TRUMP","creditText":"Mark Ralston—AFP/Getty Images)","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4351370/donald-trump-san-diego-california-protest/","name":"Donald Trump Thanks Police for 'Handling the Thugs' After Protesters Arrested"}}]}] ```