Protests at Donald Trump rally in New Mexico turn violent

Protests outside a Donald Trump rally in New Mexico turned violent on Tuesday as demonstrators threw burning T-shirts, plastic bottles and other items at police officers, and knocked down barricades.

Police responded by firing pepper spray and smoke grenades into the crowd outside the Albuquerque Convention Centre.

During the rally, Mr Trump was interrupted repeatedly by protesters, who shouted, held up banners and resisted removal by security officers.

The banners included the messages “Trump is Fascist” and “We’ve heard enough”.

At one point, a female protester was physically dragged from the stands by security. Other protesters scuffled with security as they resisted removal from the convention centre, which was packed with thousands of cheering Trump supporters.

Mr Trump responded by instructing security to remove the protesters and mocking their actions by telling them to “go home to mommy”.

He responded to one demonstrator by asking: “How old is this kid?” Then he provided his own answer: “Still wearing diapers.”

The altercations left a glass door at the entrance of the convention centre smashed.

It was Mr Trump’s first stop in New Mexico, the nation’s most Hispanic state. Governor Susana Martinez, head of the Republican Governors Association and the nation’s only Latina governor, has harshly criticised his remarks on immigrants and attacked his proposal to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.

The governor did not attend the rally and has yet to make an endorsement.

Washington primaries

The protest comes after both Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, and Mr Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, each won primaries in Washington state.

Mr Trump’s win helps him inch closer to clinching his party’s nomination for president. He is within 41 delegates of the number needed to become the Republican nominee, and is now the only remaining candidate in the Republican contest.

Mrs Clinton’s win might give her some momentum, but it will not get her any delegates. There were no delegates at stake in the Democratic primary. Washington Democrats have already awarded their delegates based on party caucuses.

Mr Sanders trails Mrs Clinton in the delegate count and he is running out of contests in his bid to catch up.

Mrs Clinton is just 78 delegates short of clinching the Democratic nomination for president. She is on track to do so in early June, even if she loses all the remaining contests.

Overall, Mrs Clinton has 2,305 delegates and Mr Sanders has 1,539. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the Democratic nomination.

Reuters