20 Arrested After Protest Outside Donald Trump Event In Orange County Turns Rowdy

At least 20 people were arrested late Thursday after protests outside a Donald Trump rally in Orange County, California turned rowdy.

Carrying American and Mexican flags and handmade signs, the raucous anti-Trump crowd of several hundred people filled the street outside the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa, and denounced the GOP frontrunner, The Associated Press reported.

"I'm protesting because I want equal rights for everybody, and I want peaceful protest," Daniel Lujan told the Los Angeles Times.

The more peaceful demonstrators simply blocked traffic in the intersection of Fair Drive and Fairview and held signs that blasted Trump.

Other demonstrators turned violent, smashing windows and attempting to overturn police cruisers, KTLA reported.

Ruben Vives, a reporter for The Los Angeles Times, also tweeted that demonstrators were throwing rocks at motorists.

Deputies from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department donned riot gear and attempted to control the crowd outside the amphitheater, KTLA reported. Using a loudspeaker, the officers declared an “unlawful assembly” and ordered the protesters to clear out of the road.

During his first major California event of the year, Trump filled the 8,000-seat amphitheater. On stage he blamed immigrants for crime as the crowd stomped and chanted "Build that wall!"

“Your crime numbers, they’re going through the roof, and we can’t have it anymore,” Trump said, per The Orange County Register. “We’re going to get our country back to a balance.”

According to the police, the crowd finally dispersed around 11 p.m. No major injuries were reported.

Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.