Trump rally participants and counterprotesters debate with each other at Pilot Butte on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020.

BEND — An afternoon of vocal but peaceful rallies by supporters of President Donald Trump and social justice activists turned violent Saturday, Oct. 3, at a park in Bend when a Black Lives Matter protester tried to steal a Trump campaign flag.

More than a hundred people had gathered at the park and violence erupted as Trump supporters formed a caravan to leave. Trump supporters jumped out of their vehicles to chase the man who tried to steal the flag, punches were thrown and then a Central Oregon Peacekeepers protester started spraying the crowd with pepper spray. At one point, a Trump supporter was sprayed with pepper spray inside his truck by a social justice activist.

Bend police confiscated two handguns that the Trump supporter had with him.

Police also later arrested Garrett Gerdes, 23, of Bend, who they identified as the man who tried to steal the flag.

Amanda Hutchings, 33, of La Pine, who went to support Black Lives Matter, had never seen anything like it in Bend, where she grew up. She, too, was hit by pepper spray.

“The next thing I knew, I heard Tasers going off and then pepper spray,” she said. “This is a first for Bend.”

The Trump supporters had been saying for more than a week they planned a rally and possible caravan through Bend. When rumors surfaced that the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, might attend, social justice activists planned a counter-rally.

Both groups converged at the park near Pilot Butte about midday and for hours, their presence was peaceful, marked only by hurled insults and chants.

“We are just having a party,” said Bend resident and social justice activist Mallory Becker as she put candles on a cake early in the afternoon. “We are going to counter hate and racism with having a party.”

Throughout the afternoon Bend police drove through the parking lot to monitor the events.

Kerstin Arias, co-founder of the Central Oregon Diversity Project who organized the party to counter the Trump rally, was initially pleased that the event was peaceful. After the melee, however, she appeared dazed and defeated.

“They … hate us,” she said.

Nicholas Dieringer, a Bend filmmaker who organized the Trump rally, said his intention was to host a celebration to support freedom, democracy and law and order.

“We are just normal Americans who want happiness and freedom,” Dieringer said. “We are not here to be racist and cause problems. We are good people. So we are just hoping they can respect that and we will respect them.”

Throughout the afternoon, Trump supporters waved flags and wore hats and shirts in support of the president. One man rode a dirt bike around the parking lot while revving the engine.

Few Trump supporters wore face masks to protect against the spread of COVID-19, including Dieringer, while most of the Black Lives Matter protesters wore masks.

For much of the afternoon, both groups kept to opposite sides of the parking lot. But an early confrontation started when Bend resident Graham Bourn waved a “Trump 2020” flag along the sidewalk near the counterprotest party. He began arguing with some of the counterprotesters.

Bourn, a 43-year-old mill worker, said he did not appreciate how the counterprotesters were depicting the Trump supporters as racist and white supremacists.

“The goal today is to spread the word that not all Trump supporters are racist,” Bourn said. “We’re not. I haven’t met a racist yet.”

Bourn doesn’t agree with the counterprotesters but said he supported their right to gather.

“By all means assemble,” he said. “I have no problem with that. They have the same rights that we do.”