Trump cancels Chicago event after dozens are arrested at violent St. Louis rally

Donald Trump rallies are becoming dangerous places to be.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports at least 31 people were arrested by police at a Donald Trump campaign appearance in the city Friday while a planned appearance in Chicago for the evening was canceled in the face of a massive protest.

Hundreds of Trump supporters (“thousands,” St. Louis Fox affiliate KTVI reports) turned up for the St. Louis event at the Peabody Opera House, according to the Post-Dispatch, but so did a large group of anti-Trump demonstrators. Photos and videos from outside the event show tense clashes between the two groups, and at least one protester being led away covered in blood by the St. Louis police.

The Riverfront Times reports a group of protesters made it inside the building and disrupted Trump’s speech for about 10 minutes by linking arms and chanting together. Video purportedly taken inside the opera house shows St. Louis police officers dragging them out from the front of the building while Trump harangued both the protesters and the police removing them.

“Part of the problem and part of the reason it takes so long is nobody wants to hurt each other anymore, right?” Trump said while the protesters were removed, according to the Times. The police “are being politically correct the way they take them out. So it takes a little bit longer.”

The St. Louis appearance may have been a fiasco, but the Republican candidate’s Chicago stop never even got off the ground, with large crowds of protesters gathering outside the UIC Pavilion.

ABC News reports an announcement was made to the swath of people outside of the Pavilion saying the appearance would be postponed shortly before the event was scheduled to start.

“Mr. Trump just arrived in Chicago and after meeting with law enforcement has determined that for the safety of all the tens of thousands of people that have gathered in and around the arena, tonight’s rally will be postponed until another date,” the announcement said. “Thank you very much for you attendance and please go in peace.”

Photos and videos following the announcement showed angry Trump supporters and protesters getting into fights.

At one point, a large group of anti-Trump protesters began to take over the floor of the Pavilion, chanting “We gonna be alright.”

We can only hope.