During an otherwise peaceful march against President-elect Donald Trump, which drew more than 1,000 people Saturday, a small fight broke out between a Trump supporter and an apparent protester.
Members of the crowd waved signs, shouted chants and sounded bullhorns as they began their march from the Stephen C. O’Connell Center to Bo Diddley Community Plaza, where Gainesville Police later estimated about 1,500 people gathered.
“This is what democracy looks like,” some chanted.
Walking alongside the group, about 10 counter-protesters chanted pro-Trump messages, with one Santa Fe College student waving the president-elect’s campaign sign attached to a flagpole.
As the march made its way past Midtown, someone from the crowd tackled the Trump supporter, who later identified himself as 23-year-old Tommy Grooms, in what appeared to be an attempt to take his sign.
“He jumped up and dragged my sign pole and tried to drag me down,” the Santa Fe nursing sophomore said, adding that the assailant appeared to be wearing a mask and ran off immediately after.
Shirley Rodriguez, who helped organize the march with other Gainesville activist groups, said whoever attacked Grooms probably was not involved in the protest, which she said aimed to unite the city and empower minority groups.
“Just showing the community that we have an outpouring of love, to show that Gainesville is a city of resistance and we are going to fight back the hateful rhetoric,” said Rodriguez, a former undocumented immigrant and member of the LGBTQ+ community.
Walking past the UF chapter house of the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity, Brooke Eliazar-Macke, 32, carried a large cardboard cutout of Trump’s head with the phrase “This oppresses women” across his face.
“The people, united, will never be defeated,” she chanted, while members of the fraternity stood on their lawn waving a Trump flag and shouting back at protesters.
“The frat stuff we just passed was terrifying,” the Gainesville resident said.
Eliazar-Macke said after the election she became afraid of backlash against people of color, immigrants and Muslims living in the U.S.
“I am glad that in Gainesville it seems like it’s small,” she said.
At about 5 a.m. Sunday, a Delta Tau Delta brother noticed someone had vandalized the house’s columns, spray-painting hearts over a swastika — and over the words “rape” and “Trump.” GPD will investigate the incident, said department spokeswoman Lt. Tscharna Senn.
When the protesters reached Bo Diddley Community Plaza, they continued chanting as others played instruments.
Children ran around the lawn as community leaders voiced concerns about Trump’s impending presidency.
The Trump supporters remained, standing underneath Groom’s waving flag. While some protesters attempted to debate the supporters, about a dozen protesters formed a wall in front of them, their signs stretched out over their heads.
Justen Baker, a 23-year-old Santa Fe networking service technology senior, stood with the supporters holding a sign reading, “You lost, go home.”
Baker said he wanted to attend the protest to have fun and “get a rise out of people.”
Although many protesters reacted angrily toward his group’s presence, Baker said some stopped to have discussions with him.
“People’s opinions need to be heard,” he said. “What I don’t agree with is people’s complete lack of respect for the Electoral College, the democratic system and what this country stands for.”
As one of the community members addressing the crowd, UF professor Zoharah Simmons said Gainesville needed to band together to fight sexism, racism, white privilege and Islamophobia, which she said Trump represents.
“We must commit ourselves to this long-distance struggle,” she said.
