The Latest: Police say Trump rally concluded, no arrests

EUGENE, Ore. – The Latest on GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s rally in Eugene, Oregon (all times local):

10 p.m.

Eugene police say the Donald Trump rally has ended peacefully with no arrests.

Police said in a news release that nearly 4,400 people attended the event for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee in Eugene, Oregon.

Police say the event was “managed peacefully” without the need for any use of force.

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9:10 p.m.

Dozens of chanting protesters blocked an exit gate following a Donald Trump rally in Eugene, Oregon, preventing some supporters of the presumptive GOP presidential nominee from leaving or forcing them to use other exits.

Police on megaphones were asking the protesters to disperse.

Trump spoke Friday night at the Lane Events Convention Center.

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8:40 p.m.

As the crowd streamed out of the Lane Events Convention Center into the parking lot, many wore grins on their faces and were obviously pumped up by the performance by Donald Trump at Friday’s rally.

Meanwhile protesters shouted “Down With Trump!” as people exited the Eugene, Oregon, event.

Forty-six year-old Chris Fischer of Salem, Oregon, said of Trump’s speech: “It was awesome…You see it on TV and then you see it in person. The energy alone!”

Fischer said he’d always been impressed with Trump’s business strategies of using banks’ and other people’s money to make money.

Colby Brooks, a Eugene high school student, said he was wowed by the speech by the GOP front runner, but lamented that at age 16 he’s not old enough to vote yet.

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8:06 p.m.

Donald Trump made it clear in his Eugene, Oregon, rally that he was reaching out to Republicans rural Oregon, parts of which are struggling economically.

“Timber is a crucial industry” in parts of Oregon but “it is being hammered by federal regulations,” he told his supporters Friday.

Trump, who had a female protester removed from the event, also talked about an increase in the number of Oregonians on food stamps.

Now that Trump’s foes have dropped out of the GOP race, he does not need to worry too much about how he does in Oregon’s May 17 primary. Nonetheless, he urged Oregonians to vote.

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7:31 p.m.

A man from Detroit who has been travelling the country selling Donald Trump gear at the GOP presidential candidate’s rallies says he actually supports Democrat Hillary Clinton.

“That’s what we try to tell the protesters,” Nicolas Moore said outside Trump’s Friday rally in Eugene, Oregon. “It’s all business to us, some of us support him, some of us don’t. At the end of the day, we’ve all got to eat.”

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7:18 p.m.

Sometimes pitched arguments broke out between protesters and supporters of Donald Trump outside a rally in Eugene, Oregon, by the presumptive GOP nominee.

Opponents of Trump carried signs that said things like “Trump Hates Women” and “Be American, Not Partisan” as people banged on drums and shouted as Trump’s supporters shouted things like “This Is Our Country!”

Alma Murphy, a Eugene resident and Trump supporter, said outside the event that she was supporting the New York businessman because “he’s going to change things, and we need it.”

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6:45 p.m.

Security was tight at a Eugene convention centre as a few thousand people arrived for a rally by Donald Trump and a couple hundred protesters gathered outside.

People attending the rally at the Lane Events Center had to go through a series of metal detectors that were staffed by the Secret Service and Transportation Security Administration.

Trump was to begin speaking at 7 p.m. Friday.

Protesters were kept about 300 yards away by a fence and by police. Some of them shouted at Trump supporters as they arrived.

Among the Trump fans was 50-year-old Ken Kraft, who drove to Eugene from Oregon City.

Kraft was wearing a signature Trump red baseball cap, emblazoned with the words “Make America Great Again.”

A military veteran, Kraft said he likes Trump’s message of securing the country’s borders.

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6:25 p.m.

Protesters shouted “Dump Trump” as a long line of supporters of Donald Trump filed into a Eugene convention centre for a rally by the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

Trump was to speak at the Lane Events Center at 7 p.m. Friday.

Supporters began arriving hour early for the event.

A couple hundred protesters marched to the grounds of the convention centre. They shouted anti-Trump slogans as the billionaire businessman’s supporters arrived.

Oregon State Police and other law enforcement officials were on hand.

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5:25 p.m.

Protesters are gathering in Eugene in preparation for Donald Trump’s rally in the liberal university town.

The presumptive GOP presidential nominee is scheduled to speak at Eugene’s Lane Events Center at 7 p.m. Protesters have been gathering at a park a few blocks away.

Trump became the presumptive GOP nominee earlier this week after winning Indiana’s primary and his last two rivals — Ted Cruz and John Kasich — dropped out.

The home of the University of Oregon and a city known for its liberalism, Eugene hardly seems like a good fit for the billionaire businessman.

The Trump campaign has said it chose Eugene because it’s a major Oregon population centre that is easily accessible from other parts of the state. Eugene is about 110 miles south of Portland.