Thousands of people outside the Connecticut Convention Center after the Donald Trump rally on Friday night.
HARTFORD, April 15 – Donald Trump brought his presidential campaign to Hartford on Friday evening with a short 30 minute rally at the Connecticut Convention Center. It attracted thousands of fans who wanted to see what the Republican frontrunner would say. And it also attracted hundreds of protesters who object to some of his proposed policies if he were to be elected President.
I snapped some photos of the scene outside the Connecticut Convention Center. We applied for credentials to get inside but were denied. It was OK. There was plenty to see outside. Dozens of vendors set up on the sidewalk outside the Convention Center selling Trump hats, t-shirt, banners, posters and other memorabilia. That is where most of the protesters were for most of the time prior to the rally — intermixed with these vendors.
The protesters rallied, chanted and would shake their signs for occasional beeps from passing motorists.
Meanwhile, thousands of people who wanted to see the Trump rally waited outside the Convention Center. The wait was over 30 minutes long and the line snaked through the parking lot. There were still several hundred people waiting outside to get in when the rally began promptly at 7 p.m.
Protesters march outside the Connecticut Convention Center Friday.
It got noisy once the rally ended. Thousands of people that attended the Trump rally streamed down the staircases near the Marriott hotel. The protesters and their signs moved to the bottom of the stairs so the folks leaving the rally would see them. It was loud but no one was hurt and no one was arrested.
It took about 30 minutes for the plaza to begin to thin out and the Trump rally attendees to get to their vehicles and wait in line to leave the parking garage.
One young teenager told me he was a bit intimated by the chanting protestors. He wanted to the rally to see Trump in person and see what he had to say. He had no Trump hat or t-shirt on. I asked if he had seen Trump on television and he said yes.
Was his message any different? No, he replied.
A Trump supporter leaves the rally.
A man who attended the Trump rally waves the American flag as people protest outside the Connecticut Convention Center.
For some, this was entertainment. Many of the people in line to get into the rally took photos of the protestors as they waited in line. Plenty of people were taking photos on their phones as they left the rally, too. Some folks were looking to argue. Others were just there to see it all unfold.
These three youngsters from Wethersfield came to the Connecticut Convention Center with their parents. They didn’t attend the rally.
Click here for additional photos of the rally on our Facebook page.
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