BY VINCENT MOLESKI AND

BRYAN ANDERSON

FEBRUARY 23, 2019 09:23 PM,

UPDATED 2 HOURS 52 MINUTES AGO

(video may be viewed at source link)

A man was placed under citizen’s arrest and issued a citation by the Sacramento Police Department for battery Saturday night amid a protest against a California Tea Party Caucus event downtown.

The caucus held a “Build the Wall Dinner” at Claim Jumper restaurant while the state GOP’s annual convention was underway, prompting nearby protests.

Around 7:39 p.m., a group of “anti-wall protesters” were on the 900 block of 11th Street when a “Republican party supporter” was allegedly assaulted, Sacramento Police Department spokesman Sgt. Vance Chandler said.

A video given to The Bee by John Berry, one of the attendees, shows about 15 protesters outside the restaurant shouting.

Berry said he was inside the restaurant, went outside to see them and filmed them protesting the event.

“I’m not going to be intimidated by a bunch of little punks.” Berry told The Bee after the dinner.

When Berry confronts the protestors, as the video shows, his phone is knocked down by one demonstrator as shouting intensifies.

“They were better publicity for us. We’re 100 members attending a dinner and they were trying to shut us up. The irony is they were so cartoonish it was actually funny. They did us a favor by providing us publicity and a reason to go.”

The alleged assault did not take place in the view of officers, Chandler said, and the man, identified by police as Clayton Isaeff, was placed under citizen’s arrest by an unidentified person.

Isaeff was later detained by police, issued a citation for battery and released, Chandler said.

The incident outside the Tea Party’s dinner happened as Sean Spicer, the former White House press secretary, spoke a few blocks away as the keynote of the state GOP’s annual convention dinner. An estimated 1,400 delegates were in Sacramento this weekend for the Republican convention.

“We don’t have time for subtraction in this party,” he told attendees at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento. “We don’t have time as a party for division anymore. We can win. ... Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t win in this state up and down the coast.”

Spicer’s speech focused on the need for unity within the Republican ranks in a state in which registered Democrats greatly outnumber them. He urged party supporters to continue supporting President Donald Trump.

“The left is fired up. They don’t like what this president is doing,” he said. “Frankly, they don’t like how effective he’s been.”

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/cr...226709009.html