By Maria Ortiz
08 Aug 2024, 00:12 AM EDT
Several protesters tried to disrupt the vice president’s election rally Kamala Harris in Detroit, Michigan, on Wednesday, shouting slogans in favor of Palestine. The cries of “Kamala!” drowned them out, but they continued chanting about “genocide.”
Harris silenced the pro-Palestinian protest before some 15,000 attendees, his biggest 2024 election campaign event to date.
“You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, keep talking. If not, I’ll talk. I’m the one talking.” Harris told protesters chanting “We will not vote for genocide” in protest against the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip since October last year.
The rally had been interrupted by a group of protesters halfway through, chanting incessantly: “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide, we will not vote for genocide.”
To which Harris continued: “I am here because I believe in democracy. I believe that everyone’s voice matters. But I am speaking now… Now, I am speaking.”
Her responses were reminiscent of Harris’s viral moment during a 2020 vice presidential debate, in which she told Vice President Mike Pence: “Mr. Vice President, I am speaking.”
Michigan is home to a large Arab American population, especially in the Detroit suburbs. Some Democrats have been concerned that the Biden administration’s handling of the Gaza war could cost them votes in November.
Protesters against the war in Gaza had previously followed President Biden on the campaign trail for months, carrying signs and shouting in the middle of their speeches to chant things like “blood on your hands,” “genocide Joe,” and “ceasefire now.”
Meanwhile, Kamala Harris’ campaign also reported today that in the 24 hours after announcing that her running mate would be Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, they have raised $36 million.
On Tuesday, the campaign raised nearly $1 million just from the sale of camouflage caps emblazoned with “Harris Walz.”
Besides, Harris’s campaign said it raised $310 million in July, more than double the amount former President Donald Trump said he received last month.
The contributions included $200 million that Harris raised in the seven days after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and she launched her bid for the White House.
Keep reading:
• Audio shows Trump praising Walz’s handling of 2020 after George Floyd riots
• Harris and Walz hold election rally in Wisconsin
• How immigration has become a central issue in US campaigns