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Black Lives Matter protesters interrupt Trump's speech

US Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks at a rally at the Westgate Hotel and Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 14, 2015. (AFP photo)

Protesters affiliated with Black Lives Matter movement interrupted Donald Trump’s presidential campaign rally in Las Vegas and were forcibly removed from the event.

The Republican front-runner was forced to pause three times during his speech Monday evening because of heckles from the crowd.

The protesters told Yahoo News that they are planning more demonstrations for the fifth and final Republican debate of 2015 at the Venetian casino on Tuesday night.

The protest erupted soon after Trump took the stage and invited a supporter, Jamiel Shaw, to tell the story of his son, who was shot and killed by an immigrant gang member in 2008.

“I always ask people what would you do? What would you do if an illegal alien in an 18th Street gang was released from the county jail you know and into our neighborhoods?” Shaw asked the crowd. “We don’t know what’s going on. That’s why we need Donald Trump.”

Ender Austin, a Pentecostal minister attending the rally, interjected, “That’s why we need gun control.”

Austin later told Yahoo News that he felt the need to interrupt the speech because he believed Trump was unfairly using the death of Shaw’s son to justify his anti-immigrant policies.

People hold signs as they wait for Donald Trump outside the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan on December 11.

Trump’s campaign has been marked by inflammatory speeches and disparaging remarks about women, immigrants, refugees and Muslims.

Trump, whose paternal grandparents immigrated from Germany and his mother immigrated from Scotland, has called for deportation of all undocumented immigrants from the United States. He also wants to build a towering wall along the US-Mexican border to prevent “rapists” and “criminals” from entering the country.

The billionaire businessman sparked a firestorm last Monday by proposing a “total and complete” ban on all Muslims entering the United States.

Despite his divisive rhetoric, Trump continues to sustain his lead over other GOP contenders with an average of 33 percent support among Republican primary voters.


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