Angry Bernie Sanders delegates from California are leaving the door open to more protests from the floor of the convention Thursday night during Hillary Clinton’s address.
“I’m not really at liberty to divulge the specifics of actions other than to tell you stay in touch with California. We lead the way,” Robert Shearer, northern California delegate coordinator for Sanders, told CNN when asked if they’d protest Thursday evening. “I could tell you that we’re not here to protest people, we’re here to fight for causes, and that’s what it’s been about all along.”
Sanders delegates complained that Democratic National Committee staffers and Clinton delegates would sit in their seats whenever they got up to get food or use the restroom and then not allow them to return.
Shawnee Badger, a 22-year-old Sanders delegate from California, also accused Clinton staff of blocking a microphone when Sanders supporters were chanting against former CIA Director Leon Panetta.
Messages left with the DNC and Clinton campaign were not immediately returned.
Badger later rushed to the front of the California delegation breakfast with other Sanders supporters and took over the front of the room, chanting “Count our votes!” — the latest sign that despite the Vermont senator’s calls to get behind Clinton, the Democratic Party still has unifying to do.
About a dozen Sanders delegates and supporters took the front of the ballroom Thursday morning after Housing Secretary Julian Castro spoke there and began chanting and waving signs.
“Count our votes! Count our votes!” the group chanted. Protesters, including one wearing a green Jill Stein T-shirt, waved signs reading “Hillary for Fear” and a Sanders campaign sign altered to read “Well, we’re f—ed now.”
The meeting dissolved after about five minutes, as party officials took the stage and Clinton supporters gathered to counter the Sanders protesters with chants of “Hillary! Hillary!”
The protests come just hours before the final day of the Democratic convention was set to start and before Clinton is set to deliver her prime-time address.
The Vermont senator, meanwhile, spoke at the Michigan, Minnesota and Tennessee delegation breakfast meeting in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
While he was occasionally interrupted by one attendee who loudly criticized Clinton, the event was largely incident-free, allowing Sanders to make his stump speech, adding his push to make the Democratic nominee the next president.
“It seems to me that we have a couple of missions in front of us, because we look at politics very different than others,” he told the crowd. “Issue No. 1 is that over the next few months, we work as hard as we can to make sure that Donald Trump is defeated and Hillary Clinton is elected.”
The continued protests throughout the week have underscored the party’s troubles rallying the impassioned Sanders supporters to the Clinton’s side.
Sanders supporters booed Sanders himself earlier this week after he asked his supporters in California to support Clinton. The booing delegates said they did not think that Sanders wants them to give up the fight and that they don’t have to follow Sanders’ every word.
