Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Monday said no violence is occurring at his rallies.
“In Alabama, 35,000 people, no disruption, no nothing. But the press is now calling, they’re saying, ‘Oh but there is such violence,’ ” Trump said during town hall event in Hickory, N.C., on Monday.
{mosads}During the event, where New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie interviewed Trump, the billionaire said essentially no one has ever been hurt at one of his events.
“There is no violence. You know how many people have been hurt at our rallies? I think like basically none, other than I guess maybe somebody got hit once. But there’s no violence.”
A 78-year-old Trump supporter was arrested last week and charged with punching a protestor in the face as police escorted him from a rally in North Carolina.
Trump also canceled a Chicago rally after massive protests against him there.
“So rather than fighting in Chicago, I did something that was a good move, a good decision, because I don’t want to see anybody be hurt,” Trump said Monday.
Trump, who has been criticized for a string of violent incidents at his rallies, said because he canceled the Chicago rally, people are saying there is violence that has been occurring. But he denied that there was any violence.
“There’s no violence,” he said. “These are love fests.”
He continued to blame the protests on supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
“But there’s no violence, there’s none whatsoever,” he said.
“But I’ll tell you what, we go and these things are so incredible, it’s a movement and it’s a love fest, and we love each other and we’re going to do so well.”