The racial powder keg Donald Trump has been feeding for months finally exploded in Chicago today.
The Republican presidential candidate postponed a rally over safety concerns as violence broke out inside the arena and huge mobs took to the streets.
Chicago tonight is a city divided as the race for the White House took an ugly turn.
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Anti-Trump protesters were arrested in the streets and policemen became battered and bloodied in the fray.
Before the violence even began, a planned Trump rally at the University of Illinois was called off by staff over safety concerns.
Pleas for peace were quickly ignored as those against Trump fought to take over the stage and those who support him fought back in turn.
Tens of thousands had turned out to the University's campus, forming a crush outside the event.
And as the night dragged on, so too did the violence.
The scenes were reminiscent of 1968 when the Democratic National Convention in Chicago become the site of an all-out riot.
Trump told CNN he isn't to blame.
"If you look at African-American youth, they have a 59 percent unemployment rate," Trump said when asked why the protests turned violent.
The Billionaire Republican has worn his animosity towards protesters as a badge of honour throughout his nomination campaign.
He's stated he'd like to punch a protester in the face at one rally, and asked supporters to "knock the crap out of" protesters at another, also assuring potential attackers that he would pay for the legal fees.
At an earlier appearance in St Louis today he was confronting his detractors again, yelling for them to be thrown out.
In St Louis, 32 people were arrested with some left bloodied.
Violence is increasing on the campaign trail. Yesterday, a Trump supporter was arrested for assault for punching a protestor in North Carolina.
Trump addressed the clashes in a press conference today and appeared to support the use of force by his supporters.
"We've had a couple [of protesters] that were really violent, and you know what, the audience swung back. And I thought it was very appropriate," Trump said.
Now other Republican candidates are banding together to defeat Donald Trump. Marco Rubio asked voters in Ohio to back their rival John Kasich over him.
"Clearly John Kasich has a better chance of beating Donald Trump than I do, and if a voter in concludes that John Kasich has a better chance to stop Trump there that's what they'll do," Rubio said.
But former rival Ben Carson is now backing the Celebrity Apprentice star.
"There are two different Donald Trumps. There's the one you see on the stage and there's the one who's very cerebral," Carson stated as he announced his support.
Those two Trumps are dividing America, where the states are less united with every passing day.
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