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LOS ANGELES, Aug. 19-- Law enforcement in America's fifth largest city are bracing themselves for next week's Donald Trump rally, that could be potentially more explosive than last week's turmoil in Charlottesville of Virginia. Friday, several restaurants and bars near the Phoenix Convention Center announced they would close for the Tuesday rally, with the Valley Bar posting a notice on Facebook saying, "Peace cannot be kept by force... it can only be achieved by understanding." On Saturday, police reported that anti-Trump vandalism - black spray-painted words saying: "Trump=Satan," were discovered along an Arizona highway. All week long, Phoenix law enforcement have been reassuring residents that "your city is working hard to ensure another safe event," but many others, including the city mayor Greg Stanton, fear the Trump rally may inflame and ensure participation of hate groups, who have used social media to champion the president for his tacit support of their followers in Charlottesville. According to a 2016 study by the Southern Poverty Law Center, only California in the West has more hate groups than Arizona, with 19 of the state's 22 groups operating in the populous areas around Tucson and Phoenix. Stanton's warning to Trump to "stay away" from his city of 1.6 million is uNPRecedented in American history, the Washington Post's Fred Barbash said Friday. With thousands expected to attend the rally and the counter protest, local law enforcement will team with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and Arizona counter terrorism officials to monitor possible hate group activity to ensure public safety, the Phoenix Police Department said in the latest statement on the rally. | 
