Donald Trump 'supporters grope and pepper spray' 15-year-old girl at Wisconsin rally

Mr Trump has been criticised for failing to speak out against violence at his rallies

Police are investigating claims that a teenage girl was pepper-sprayed and sexually assaulted while attending a Donald Trump rally. The incident appears to have been caught on camera and posted on social media.

Officers in Janesville, Wisconsin, said they were searching for two men, one of them for allegedly sexually assaulting the 15-year-old who was protesting against Mr Trump, and another man who allegedly pepper sprayed both the teenager and a 19-year-old woman. Both women were taken to local hospitals for treatment.

Police said the girl was peppered-sprayed in the crowd by a non-law enforcement person. Hundreds of anti-Trump protesters and supporters had gathered outside the Holiday Inn Express in southern Wisconsin, where Mr Trump was holding his maiden rally in the state ahead of Tuesday's primary.

The girl, who was among those trying to see the Republican frontrunner, was close to a group of anti-Trump protesters, when she accused a man with greying hair of groping her. “You f**king touched me,” she is heard exclaiming. She pushed him off and tried to punch him in a scuffle that lasted nearly a minute.

A younger man then made his way to the melee and aimed his pepper spray so it hit her between the eyes at point blank range.

“She reacted by pushing this male back and as she pushed the male back,” Janesville Police Chief David Moore confirmed. “Another person presented some pepper spray and sprayed her in the face.”

The girl was later taken to a local hospital for treatment before being released.

The older man, named as Dan Crandall, later stepped forward and told reporters he had done nothing to her. “I didn’t touch her,” he told the Wisconsin State Journal.

The police said the event was otherwise peaceful in spite of the presence of scores of protestors denouncing Mr Trump. One protestor who made it inside the hotel was led out by security when he tried to brandish anti-Trump signs to the banks of TV cameras.

Mr Trump has been accused repeatedly of failing to do more to prevent violence at his rallies. He always claims that