Protesters block road ahead of Trump rally in Fountain Hills

Three people were arrested in twin protests that choked traffic leading into Fountain Hills on Saturday morning, preventing or delaying many from attending Republican front-runner Donald Trump's rally there.

Traffic was backed up for as far as one could see, and some motorists got out of their cars to confront protesters, leading to some tense moments but no violence.

The protesters, some with megaphones and drums, chanted “Donald Trump, shut it down. Phoenix is a people's town.”

About 100 people blocked westbound lanes of Shea Boulevard near State Route 87, the Beeline Highway. Frustrated motorists began parking along the highway and walking toward the park where the rally was held.

Three miles away, the second group of about 200 people blocked eastbound lanes of Shea Boulevard near the entrance to Eagle Mountain. Three people there chained themselves to vehicles parked in the road.

“Every single person there is going to vote for Trump now,” a frustrated motorist yelled into the face of a protester.

At one point, a man driving a Jeep banged on his horn and drove into the crowd, forcing them to get out of the way or risk being run over. No one was hurt in the incident.

Carlos Garcia, executive director of the Puente Human Rights Movement, said his group decided to block the eastbound lanes of Shea Boulevard to demonstrate “the severity of the concern we have for Donald Trump and his message.”

Trump has promised that, if elected president, he will deport all of the nation’s estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants. He also has pledged to build a giant wall along the border with Mexico to stop more migrants from entering illegally.

“In Arizona, we have lived what that rhetoric turns into,” Garcia said, pointing out that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration policies and actions by former Gov. Jan Brewer have “hurt our families” and resulted in “thousands of people being deported.”

“So we know where this rhetoric is going, and that is why it is so important why we stand up to Trump now before he can put that policy into place,” Garcia said.

His group was responsible for blocking the eastbound lanes of Shea Boulevard. The blockade that took place on the westbound lanes was unplanned, he said.

Gregg Paulson, 60, a financial adviser from Scottsdale, was riding his bike to the Trump rally with his wife, Katy, 53, a sportswear sales representative, when they encountered the Puente group.

The couple got off their bikes and began yelling at the protesters to stop blocking the road. At one point, Gregg Paulson ripped several signs out of the hands of protesters and pedaled away before dumping the signs on the road.

Paulson said later he was angry because the protesters were preventing some people from hearing what Trump had to say. Personally, he is split between Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

“They are violating everyone else’s rights because they disagree with someone. In my opinion, that is not free speech. That is not respecting the law,” Paulson said as he waited to see how the blockade would end.

The sentiment was later echoed by Arizona Republican Party Chairman Robert Graham, who issued a statement criticizing the protesters, saying they denied "our First Amendment rights by physically preventing innocent people from attending a rally held by a candidate for public office."

“I won’t stand for it, nor should anyone in America," Graham said. "This is an outrageous display, and it’s deeply offensive to me as a voter and as a party leader to see these tactics here in Arizona."

Law enforcement issued their first warning to the protesters blocking Shea Boulevard at about 10:20 a.m. They said they planned to give demonstrators two more warnings over about 10 minutes and if they did not vacate the roadway and allow traffic to pass, they would begin arresting the protesters.

Officials from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, Arizona Department of Public Safety and Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation then worked to systematically clear Shea Boulevard, a task that took little more than an hour to complete.

Sheriff’s deputies used bolt cutters to cut the chains from the three protesters who locked themselves to the doors of their vehicles. The two women and one man were taken away in plastic handcuffs. Police were seen towing a total of five vehicles that were blocking eastbound lanes of Shea Boulevard.

Traffic was slow to resume and backups persisted for miles.

Trump was at the Phoenix Convention Center in downtown Phoenix to tape an interview with Fox News personality Sean Hannity on Saturday morning. By the time the roads were starting to clear and his motorcade pulled into Fountain Hills, Trump was about 50 minutes behind schedule.

Maria Talavera, 28, a pharmacy technician from Glendale, said she has noticed an increase in hostility toward Mexicans and Latinos since Trump began running for president.

Recently, she said, some kids in her neighborhood pointed at her children and yelled “Ups Trump” while giving the thumbs-up sign.

“My kids are witnessing the hate and it hurts me,” Talavera said, as she stood on the side of Shea Boulevard near State Route 87 with a sign that read “Love Trumps Hate.”

She was among about 100 protesters who lined Shea Boulevard just west of State Route 87.

Many carried signs that said "Stand against racism." They also chanted "Get this clown out of our town" and "What do we want? Dump Trump."

Sarah Johnston, 35, a schoolteacher from Mesa, said that as a Jewish person, she felt compelled to protest Trump’s rally because of the statements he has made calling for a temporary ban on allowing all Muslims into the U.S.

“Once you start picking on one minority group, all minority groups are fair game,” Johnston said. “As a Jewish person, I have seen where this road of hate goes and I don’t want us to go there.”

Bob McGinn, 70, a Canadian citizen who lives in Fountain Hills six months of the year, came upon the blockade while on his way to meet a friend. He said by blocking the street, the protesters were encouraging people to support Trump and therefore hurting their own cause.

“That’s what these people don’t understand,” McGinn, a retired salesman, said. “If they don’t like (Trump), they are helping him. They are turning him into a cult figure.”