Donald Trump on protester: I’d like to punch him

In another round of controversial remarks, Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said he wanted to “punch” a protester in the face after the heckler was ejected from a campaign event here.

Mr Trump, known for making controversial comments, also did not spare his nearest Republican rival Ted Cruz, calling him “sick” at the campaign rally ahead of the Nevada primary.

The protester — the third one to interrupt him at the event and who Mr Trump claimed had thrown punches at security guards — drew the candidate’s ire. As the man was being escorted away, Mr Trump repeatedly told the crowd that he wished for the “old days”, adding, “You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this They’d be carried out on a stretcher.”

“I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell ya,” the 69-year-old said.

Mr Trump has faced criticism over his response to protesters before as well. After a Black Lives Matter demonstrator was pushed to the ground at one of his events in November, Mr Trump said in an interview that “maybe he should have been roughed up” before later pulling back from his comments. But in Las Vegas, he held nothing back, and the cro-wd of thousands met every one of his lines with cheers.

Controversies follow Mr Trump to social media. He has repeated inaccurate and racially charged crime statistics, reposted pledges of support from white supremacists and retweeted dubious questions about the citizenship of his presidential rivals on Twitter. And his response when challenged To dismiss it as nothing more than harmless “retweets.”