- The Washington Times - Sunday, August 9, 2015

A pair of Black Lives Matter demonstrators forced Democratic presidential candidate Bernard Sanders from the podium as he tried to deliver a speech in Seattle on Saturday evening, taking the microphone and shutting down the rally.

Mr. Sanders lamented the action in a later statement, but one of his Senate colleagues Sunday called it an expression of legitimate frustration.

It was the second time black protesters interrupted Mr. Sanders at a campaign event.

Two women jumped onto the stage as Mr. Sanders was about to begin his speech before a crowd of a few thousand. They threatened to shut down the rally if organizers did not give them a turn at the mic.

“If you do not listen to her, your event will be shut down,” one of the female protesters said as Mr. Sanders backed away from the podium.

When the mostly white audience booed and hissed, calling for Mr. Sanders to be allowed to speak, one of the demonstrators said the Seattle crowd’s negative reaction to her proved them to be “white supremacist liberals.”

“I was going to tell Bernie how racist this city is, even with all of these progressives, but you’ve already done that for me. Thank you,” she said.

An organizer offered to give the women the mic, but the scene quickly devolved into a shouting match and organizers declared the event over.

Mr. Sanders, 73, stood by silently during the whole fracas.

“I am disappointed that two people disrupted a rally attended by thousands at which I was invited to speak about fighting to protect Social Security and Medicare,” Mr. Sanders said later in a statement. “I was especially disappointed because, on criminal justice reform and the need to fight racism, there is no other candidate for president who will fight harder than me.”

The senator, a Vermont independent and avowed socialist who has emerged as the chief rival to front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination, had a speech disrupted last month by Black Lives Matter demonstrators at the Netroots Nation convention in Phoenix.

“Bernie, you were confronted at Netroots by black women,” the Seattle activist said this weekend, noting that the candidate still has not detailed his criminal justice proposals. “Join us now in holding Bernie Sanders accountable for his actions.”

Sen. Cory A. Booker, New Jersey Democrat and Clinton supporter, said he “has tremendous respect for” Mr. Sanders and his “long record of civil rights,” but he added that the protesters had a legitimate complaint.

“But the anger you saw there from the protesters, this is a legitimate degree of frustration in this country, in a nation that has yet to confront what I believe are persistent civil rights issues, human rights issues,” said Mr. Booker, who is black.

• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.

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