In New Mexico, Donald Trump attacks GOP governor, anti-Trump protesters attack police

Albuquerque police pepper-spray protesters

(Image credit: Twitter/@frankthorpe)

published 25 May 2016

In Albuquerque on Tuesday, Donald Trump held his first campaign rally in almost two weeks, and he used his speech to criticize Hillary Clinton, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Gov. Susana Martinez (R-N.M.), the first Latina governor and current head of the Republican Governors Association. "You've got to get your governor to do a better job," he told the crowd of about 8,000. "She's not doing her job." He added, "Hey, maybe I'll run for governor of New Mexico." Martinez has declined to endorse Trump, and she and other state GOP leaders did not attend the rally.

Trump's rally was interrupted several times by protesters, but the real drama was happening outside the convention center.

Protesters outside the venue threw plastic bottles, burning Donald Trump T-shirts, and rocks at the police, and rushed a police barricade, trying to force their way into the Trump rally. The police fired pepper spray and threw smoke grenades into the scrum. Several Albuquerque police officers were injured by flying rocks, the police department said, and at least on person was "arrested from the riot." A glass door was broken, and the police said it appeared to have been hit by a pellet gun.

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This was Trump's first visit to New Mexico. It was not the first violent protest outside a Trump rally.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.