Supporters of an insurgent candidate seized the stage at a K-8 school in Minneapolis, triggering a scuffle that effectively ended the Democrat endorsing convention.
As shocking video shows, the chaos began when supporters of Minnesota’s incumbent Ward 10 Councilmember Aisha Chughtai and her team took the stage at Ella Baker Global Studies & Humanities Magnet School to seek the party’s endorsement.
The fracas took a sharp turn after one woman from challenger Nasri Warsame’s team aggressively rushed toward a Chughtai supporter while shouting and pointing.
Other supporters from Warsame’s camp quickly followed suit and formed a mosh beneath the school’s stage.
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The clash between camps — differentiated by Chughtai’s signature yellow shirts and Warsame’s blue signs — bled onto the stage, with the same Warsame supporter who initiated the melee belligerently slamming a table that was to be used for the endorsement proceedings.
“This is embarrassing! We are shutting this down! This is no longer safe!” convention chair Sam Doten said before officially adjourning the convention with a gavel slam.
Despite hearing reports of several injuries and fights, Minneapolis police declined to make any arrests, a spokesperson told the Star Tribune.
A crowd of Warsame’s backers gathered around the stage area of the school auditorium.
The clash between camps — differentiated by Chughtai’s signature yellow shirts and Warsame’s blue signs — spilled onto the stage, where one Warsame supporter belligerently slammed a table meant for the endorsement process.
“This is embarrassing! We are shutting this down! This is no longer safe!” convention chair Sam Doten said before officially adjourning the convention with a gavel slam.
A representative for the Minneapolis police informed the Star Tribune that despite allegations of several injuries and fights, no arrests were made.
One person was brought to the hospital by ambulance with non-life-threatening injuries, while another was treated on the scene, according to the police.
Warsame stated that the fight resulted in two of his squad members needing medical attention.
“My campaign manager has been assaulted by one of the other campaign staff member, and he’s now being transported to hospital by an ambulance,” the candidate claimed in a Facebook post.
Chughtai issued a statement in which he held Warsame responsible for starting the fight.
She stated that more than a dozen volunteers were abused by his campaign, “punched multiple women of color” on her team and “shoved and harassed LGBTQIA2S+ delegates and supporters.”
“Today, during the Ward 10 Convention, the Nasri Warsame campaign continually made people feel unsafe. They intimidated delegates and alternates, harassed and threatened DFL volunteers, and assaulted me and my supporters,” Chughtai said.
The DFL claimed Saturday night that the incident was caused by Warsame supporters.
DLF chairman Ken Martin has stated that the party would collaborate with Minneapolis to figure out what to do next.
“Harassment and violence are unacceptable, and we expect candidates and their campaign teams to work hard to curb such behavior when it comes from their supporters, staffers, or volunteers,” Martin said in a statement.
“Warsame and his team took the opposite approach at today’s convention by escalating the situation and encouraging conflict.”
