Thousands gathered outside The Midland Theater Saturday hours before Donald Trump's Kansas City rally.
Before the presidential candidate left, the corner of 13th and Main was the epicenter of chaos.
The tense atmosphere came to a head around 7 p.m. when several Kansas City police officers pepper sprayed a crowd of protesters across from the theater.
As you can see, we were far from what happened and were not involved but he in walked up spraying us pic.twitter.com/f22WB5FAAG
— Chris (@stokith) March 13, 2016
It was a move KCPD Chief Darryl Forte called a preventive measure.
.@kcpolice used short burst of fogger to disperse 2 large groups (200+) preparing to fight. Excellent preventive measure. Maintained order
— chiefforte (@ChiefForte) March 13, 2016
Witnesses say there was some pushing and shoving moments before the pepper spray was unleashed.
"It was more like pushing and shoving and then I think protesters got confused because they were pushing and shoving each other," said one Trump protestor, seconds after the police sprayed the crowd.
According to Forte, Saturday night was a success, stating there were no injuries or property damage and only four arrests were made.
Hundreds of Trump supporters were disappointed not only by the protests, but also because they weren't allowed inside to see Trump.
Some said they were told it was due to fire code. Others said it was a security measure.
Within five minutes of Trumps speech, dozens of protesters were removed from the crowd.
"We were not cursing. We were not being violent. We were not disrupting the peace," said one protestor, who got escorted out of The Midland.
Others were disappointed they witnessed chaos instead of the presidential candidate.
"It's kinda a disappointment to see how these protestors have ruined it for everybody else," said a teen Trump supporter from Lee's Summit.
