Slideshow: Donald Trump Draws Protesters to Downtown Boston

The man himself never appeared, but that didn't stop Donald Trump protesters from spending a few solid hours chanting outside The Langham hotel in Boston's Financial District.

A crowd estimated at 100 or more wielded signs, banged drums, sang, and chanted. Shouts of "Dump Donald Trump" and "Donald, you're fired!" echoed off the walls of the hotel where Republicans' presumptive nominee was expected to appear for a fundraiser.

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Signs read, "Deport yourself," "Love trumps Hate" and, on one particularly crowded poster, "Racist Sexist Bigot Fascist Xenophobe Islamophobe TRUMP." A secondary crowd of curious office workers and tourists waiting to spot the politician/celebrity ringed around the chanting protesters.

Not that Trump saw any of it.

He came in through a side entrance, and exited the same around 1:15 p.m.

Trump was in town raising money, as his campaign fundraising steeply trails Democrat Hillary Clinton's.

Former Mass. Sen. Scott Brown, who organized the $2,700-per-seat fundraiser, did walk past protesters to enter the hotel. He posted a photo from inside the gathering, featuring himself alongside the Boston Herald's Howie Carr, New England automotive dealership/distribution scion Ernie Boch Jr., his wife and others.

Outside, the protest was largely peaceful as a Boston Police contingent watched from the side. Curious tourists and office workers clustered on the other side of the street taking pictures with mobile phones, while a handful of reporters prowled the protest perimeter.

In one incident, captured on YouTube, two members of the crowd got into an altercation. As one man chased another down, shouting, police leaped over the barricade to intervene. Protesters switched their chant to "Hate will never win!" as officers separated the men.

One Trump supporter went out of his way to make his allegiances known, but his presence only appeared to make the crowd chant louder.

Trump is now headed to a rally in Bangor, Maine, at 4 p.m.

Wednesday's Boston appearance was a rain-check event, rescheduled after Trump cancelled previous plans in the wake of the Orlando shooting.

Photos by Alison Bauter, Patch staff. Story last updated 5:56 p.m.

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