Klobuchar Forced to Cancel Home-State Rally Due to Black Lives Matter Protestors
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) cancelled a rally in her home state on Sunday night after dozens of Black Lives Matter and Minneapolis NAACP protestors stormed into the event and took over the stage to protest Klobuchar’s prosecutorial record.
A Klobuchar spokesperson said the senator offered to meet with the protestors privately, a request reportedly turned down by the civil rights activists, who delayed the event by around 40 minutes before it was cancelled.
“The campaign offered a meeting with the senator if they would leave the stage after being onstage for more than an hour,” the spokesperson said. “After the group initially agreed, they backed out of the agreement and we are canceling the event.”
But protestors contested the narrative, saying they had never backed out of a deal to meet with Klobuchar.
“We thought that Amy Klobuchar speaking about Myon’s case with Myon’s family onstage was a reasonable request and a good way to let attendees know why we were there,” Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer and Black Lives Matter activist, tweeted. “Instead of responding to this request, Amy’s team decided to cancel the event. We didn’t know until media told us.”
The activists chanted, “Klobuchar has got to go,” and “Free Myon” — a reference to Myon Burrell, who was sentenced to life in prison following the 2002 shooting death of an 11-year-old girl, when Klobuchar was the top prosecutor in Hennepin County, Minn.
ST. LOUIS PARK, MN — Protesters in Senator Klobuchar’s home state have stormed the stage at her campaign rally, with dozens chanting, “Free Myon!” and “Klobuchar has got to go!” pic.twitter.com/n0MLZK3mO7
— Nicole Sganga (@NicoleSganga) March 2, 2020
Calls for Klobuchar — who participated in a civil rights event Sunday with other 2020 candidates to commemorate the 55th anniversary of Selma’s “Bloody Sunday” — to end her campaign have intensified in recent weeks over the Burrell case, after an extensive report from The Associated Press highlighted a number of inconsistencies in the case. Burrell, his family, and activists say he was wrongfully convicted, and while Klobuchar has said the case should be reviewed if the lack of evidence warrants it, activists say she is complicit in the case.
“This is a tale of two cities. There’s a real distinction between how we see Amy Klobuchar, and it’s because she keeps hiding behind her progressive background or values, but she’s actually not as progressive as she comes across,” Leslie Redmond, president of the Minneapolis NAACP, told USA Today.
