One protester grabbed a microphone to say she was Sanders’ “biggest supporter” but pleaded that he “stop pumping up the dairy industry.”
While she was speaking, three topless women took the stage with “let dairy die” written on their chests.
Topless protesters crashed the stage at a rally for Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday afternoon to protest his involvement with the dairy industry.
The Democratic presidential hopeful was taking the microphone from his wife Jane, whom he called “the next first lady,” at a rally in Carson City, Nevada. But then protesters took the stage.
“Bernie, I’m your biggest supporter, and I’m here to ask you to stop pumping up the dairy industry and to stop pumping up animal agriculture,” one protester said. “I believe in you…” she added, before the mic cut out and security appeared to approach her on stage.
A tweet with video from the event’s livestream tagged activist Priya Sawhney and animal-rights group Direct Action Everywhere.
Bernie supporter pleads to #LetDairyDie in his rally live stream! Gets in a few sentences before audio is cut, & the banners from the rest of the group are visible for quite a while before the video feed is itself cut. Thank you for such a brave action @priyadxe27 @DxEverywhere!! pic.twitter.com/tyVFsFEUoJ
— AJ Jivdaya (@bunnydad_aj) February 16, 2020
Other photos posted online showed at least two topless protesters onstage who appeared to have “LET DAIRY DIE” written on their chests. They also appeared to pour milk on themselves.
Protestors jumped up on stage at the Bernie rally in Carson City, Nevada. The topless protestors took the mic and asked Bernie to stop propping up the dairy industry.
Then poured milk on themselves.I’m okay with this. #NVforBernie pic.twitter.com/ZxyQ2sdbyj
— Jessica Grace (@IsicaLynn) February 16, 2020
Sawhney was not arrested, but the three women who were topless were arrested and charged with indecent exposure. They are currently being held on $2,500 bond each, according to a press release from Direct Action Everywhere.
“I love Bernie, but we must hold abusive industries accountable, not shield and subsidize them. Animal farming is an industry which gives welfare payments to millionaires,” Sawhney said in a statement included in the release. “People are fed up. Like the Sanders campaign itself, animal rights is a burgeoning mass movement.”
The same release cited their disagreement with Sanders’ “decades-long legislative history of protecting the dairy industry,” including writing a 2009 amendment providing dairy with $350 million in aid and approving the 2018 Farm Bill, which the group writes “approved over $100 billion in subsidies while rejecting activist requests to prevent handouts to millionaires and billionaires.”
Sanders didn’t seem fazed by the interruption.
“This is Nevada, there’s always a little bit of excitement at no extra cost,” he said, according to the New York Post.
