Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

RNC 2016: Protester silences Donald Trump after infiltrating his acceptance speech

Code Pink activist chanted 'build bridges, not walls' before being escorted out

May Bulman
Friday 22 July 2016 14:37 BST
Comments
Trump's speech interrupted by protestor

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A peace activist brought Donald Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention to a halt as she urged him to "build bridges, not walls".

Medea Benjamin, founder of women-led peace group Code Pink, forced Mr Trump to stop speaking after making her way into one of the upper stands to protest against his "xenophobia and racism".

Video footage showed Ms Benjamin standing on a platform chanting "Build bridges, not walls" and holding up a banner with the same message.

She was quickly pulled down by two men, but continued to shout the message as she struggled with a police officer.

Mr Trump remained silent on stage during the ordeal, watching the scuffle and sighing while the crowds chanted back: "USA, USA".

After about a minute the police officer escorted Ms Benjamin away.

Mr Trump resumed speaking by saying: "How great are our police!"

Separate footage showed the activist being escorted off the premises by police after the incident, as she called out "Medea Benjamin, Code Pink" and "Donald Trump is a hater".

When a police officer asked her why she did it, she said: "Because Donald Trump is dangerous for this country."

In a statement released after the incident, Ms Benjamin said: “I rose to disrupt Trump’s ‘victory speech’ to make sure that no one, whether in the arena or watching in their living room, could overlook the horrifying racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and misogyny that is at the root of Donald Trump’s ideology.

"We want to build bridges not walls, and we want peace and love, not hate and war."

This is not the first time Code Pink has interrupted Mr Trump.

They have already staged several protests during the Republic National Convention and in June the group demonstrated as Mr Trump addressed an evangelical Christian group.

Ms Medea has also heckled Barack Obama and former president George W Bush, as well as disrupting both the Republican and Democratic national conventions to protest about the Iraq War.

Code Pink was in Cleveland to call for reduced military spending, immigration policies that welcome refugees, an end to drone warfare, and severed ties with repressive regimes around the world.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in