By Matt Campbell
The Kansas City Star
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Police Chief Darryl Forte Sunday defended officers’ actions in handling people protesting presidential candidate Donald Trump downtown Saturday night.
Forte said on Twitter that the protesters included a “heavy presence of known anarchists.”
At least four people were arrested and police used pepper spray on at least twice during Trump’s visit four days before the Missouri primary on Tuesday.
Video on YouTube showed several officers spraying people standing on a sidewalk on Main Street across from the Midland Theatre, where Trump spoke at a campaign rally.
Forte on Sunday praised the “coordination, calmness and composure” of the police and said their actions were “remarkable” during “very stressful conditions.”
The police chief said there had been a bomb threat and that the protest had drawn “outside agitators.”
Forte acknowledged that police used spray twice, early on in “short bursts” and later with “long streams.”
Copyright 2016 The Kansas City Star