30 black students 'ejected' from Trump rally

Washington, March 2: About 30 black students were ejected from Donald Trump's rally in the US state of Georgia, the latest controversy to hit the Republican presidential front-runner's campaign.

There are different accounts of who made the decision to eject approximately 30 black students who say they were standing silently at the top of the bleachers at Trump's rally in Valdosta.

The group of students had been waiting to see the 69-year-old real estate tycoon at the Valdosta State University when they were told to leave the venue and then escorted out.

A Trump spokeswoman denied that the incident at Valdosta State University's campus on Monday was initiated "at the request of the candidate" or the presidential campaign, The USA Today reported.

A spokesman for the Secret Service contradicted the students' statements that federal agents led them out of the building, saying Trump staff and local law enforcement officials were in charge of handling protesters.

However, Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress was quoted as saying, "These folks were told to leave the PE complex by the Trump detail." The police chief said he thinks the Trump staff made the right call and it was not a racial issue.

Trump had rented the venue, so "he had the right to tell folks he didn't want to be there, that they had to leave. I'm not campaigning for anyone. That's not what I do. But in this case, I support them," Childress said. The sight of the students, who were visibly upset, being asked to leave the grounds, created a stir at the university that was a whites-only campus until 1963.

The young people said they had planned to sit in silent protest but were escorted out by security officials before the presidential candidate began speaking. "We didn't plan to do anything," said a tearful Tahjila Davis, a 19-year-old mass media major, who was in the group of Valdosta State University students, many of whom were wearing all black.

"They said, 'This is Trump's property; it's a private event.' But I paid my tuition to be here," he told the the Des Moines Register. Brooke Gladney, a 22-year-old marketing and business management major, was quoted as saying, "The only reason we were given was that Mr Trump did not want us there."

Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks was quoted as saying, "There is no truth to this whatsoever. The campaign had no knowledge of this incident."

Earlier on Monday, some black students at another Trump campaign rally, on the campus of Radford University in Virginia, were led out by security officers after they began chanting, "No more hate! No more hate! Let's be equal, let's be great!" The incident comes after furor over Trump's refusal to disavow Ku Klux Klan (KKK) leader David Duke's support for him.

PTI