Occupy protesters (briefly) force Michele Bachmann off stage
Police escorted Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) off the stage at her own foreign policy speech today after a group of Occupy Charleston protesters swarmed the event and shouted her down.
“This will only take a minute,” about two dozen activists chanted as Bachmann stood on a podium aboard the USS Yorktown in South Carolina. The protesters stood and shouted in unison using the “human microphone” technique that has become a signature of the Occupy Wall Street movement. “We have a message for Ms. Bachmann.”
The candidate appeared frozen on stage, and it took a moment for her own supporters to respond with chants of “Sit down!” and “USA!”
The protesters accused Bachmann of “dividing Americans” and taking cues from Americans for Prosperity.
Bachmann left the stage as the crowd broke into competing, chanting groups for a few minutes. The Occupy crowd left the ship once their statement was read, chanting “We are the 99 percent!”
According to MSNBC, Bachmann returned to the stage shortly thereafter, saying, “Don’t you love the First Amendment?”
This isn’t the first time protesters have caused Bachmann trouble on the trail. Last month, she canceled a speech in Iowa after a group of college students arrived to protest her position on gay marriage.
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