INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Black Lives Matter Protesters Disrupt Donald Trump Rally, Secret Service Agent Slams Photographer To Ground

By Heather Tooley
Published on: 07:47 PST, Feb 29, 2016

Black Lives Matter protesters disrupted a Donald Trump rally held in Radford, Virginia, on Monday. The heated demonstration included about 20 people chanting “Black Lives Matter.” They all held all hands, raised in unity, as Trump supporters looked on. They moved their way through the energized crowd as security guards guided them out of the rally.

Real Clear Politics reports that Trump’s supporters responded by chanting “All Lives Matter.” This was a sentiment echoed by Donald Trump himself as he stood at the podium.

At one point, Trump noticed one of the protesters was Hispanic when he was interrupted during his speech.

“Are you Mexican?” Trump asked the Black Lives Matter protester.

“Remember people,” Trump shouted at the protesters. “We have to love everyone. All lives matter.”

The front-runner GOP presidential candidate informed the crowd that these things will happen during campaign events.

“So we’ll have these little interruptions,” Trump told his supporters.

As ABC News reports, there were other protesters with the Black Lives Matter movement that Trump reacted to.

Donald Trump was successful in bringing a sense of calm to the protest until he acknowledged a woman in front of the stage; he asked her if she had a “problem.” At that point, he instructed security to “get her out.” She was promptly removed.

Another protester was marched out of the rally when Trump called that person out for being disruptive as well.

Trump added to his supporters, “Believe it or not, we’re going to unify this country.”

When Donald Trump appeared at his rally in Radford, the facility only held 3,000 people, but there were 11,000 others outside the door.

Another incident erupted at the Donald Trump rally when a photographer was allegedly grabbed and slammed to the ground by a Secret Service agent. Buzzfeed reports that the photographer was Chris Morris from Time magazine.

Morris shared what happened to him following the shocking altercation.

“I stepped 18 inches out of the pen and he grabbed me by the neck and started choking me then he slammed me to the ground,” Morris told reporters.

Watch what Chris Morris says below in the video after he was taken down by a Secret Service agent.

Gabby Morrongiello, a reporter for the Washington Examiner, told BuzzFeed that he believed the photographer was “trying to exit the press pen to get a closer shot of a group of students who were protesting Trump.” Apparently, Morris was “choke slammed” and that’s how he wound up on the ground. Morrongiello continued that Morris is a credentialed member of the media, but Trump’s staff is “adamant about keeping reporters in the press pen until after the rally has concluded. I believe that is why he was handled like that.”

Donald Trump’s campaign continues drawing high-impact controversy. In spite of all the negativity, it pushes him ahead of his Republican rivals. It’s looking more and more like he’s going to be the clear winner in the GOP and run for the Republican nomination — this is what experts and polls are predicting as Super Tuesday approaches. Even Hillary Clinton is cognizant of Trump toppling his opponents and raising the bar. She said as much on MSNBC’s Morning Joe last Friday that she suspects Donald Trump will be the one she runs against in the presidential nomination.

There will probably be many more Black Lives Matter protests as Donald Trump surges ahead in his campaign. At this rate, political analysts predict this is only the beginning of what Americans are in for when it comes to Trump’s run for the White House.

[Photo by Steve Helber/AP]

Share this article: Black Lives Matter Protesters Disrupt Donald Trump Rally, Secret Service Agent Slams Photographer To Ground
Donald Trump
More from Inquisitr