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Large Crowd of Bernie Supporters Just Staged a Sit-In at the DNC

From Cosmopolitan

Moments after Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders moved to suspend the rules to nominate Hillary Clinton as the presidential candidate on Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention, a large group of his supporters walked out of the Wells Fargo Arena, marched into the media tent, and staged a sit-in for over an hour. Numerous news outlets are reporting that the crowd inside the tent was well over 100, though police could not provide an estimate when asked by Cosmopolitan.com. Even after police quickly shut off access to the media tents - which are only open to press - the crowd outside swelled with protesters who held up pro-Bernie signs and banners.

I walked into the tent just after the Bernie crowd had congregated, witnessing press and police huddled in a large circle in the middle of the room. Inside the tent, many of the protesters were seated, holding hands, with masked tape over their mouths that read "No Voice" in black letters. In addition to signs supporting Bernie Sanders, protesters held up signs promoting Palestinian rights, protesting the Trans-Pacific Partnershp, and criticizing Hillary Clinton.

Annie Naranjo-Rivera, 31, a Sanders delegate from Oregon, was one of the few protesters giving interviews to the media. "After the vote, everybody peacefully walked out of the building," Naranjo-Rivera said, describing the protest. Bernie delegates and supporters met and decided to march to the media tent "quietly" and "respectfully," she added. "We're not doing anything wrong. We're showing that we're upset with the way things went. We came in here and then we all had a seat," she said.

"This is what happens when the process isn't fair and when that isn't addressed. People are walking around with their mouths gagged and taped to represent the voices that have been suppressed in this election," she said, explaining that the tape represents "voices that have been silenced," including constituents represented by the delegates. "Depending on where you are from, we represent a lot of people. And a lot of those people will never vote for Hillary Clinton and they don't feel like their voices have been heard, so that's what some of this represents," she continued.

"We had a feeling that this would be a good, safe place to have our voices to be heard," she said. Another demonstrator told me the protest was called "Occupy the Media," a reference to Occupy Wall Street.

At the front of the tent, near the door blocking off access to more Sanders supporters, Virginia Sanders delegate Kimberly Tucker, 51, pointed to a young man who stood against the window with a raised fist and a black bandana over his mouth. "This gentleman right here has got his mouth covered because when you commit election fraud, you silence the vote, and we're not going to take it," she cried as a group of reporters swarmed her.

Unlike Naranjo-Rivera, Tucker wasn't privy to any of the protest plans. "I was going to the restroom after Bernie Sanders suspended the vote, and I saw my brothers and sisters walking, and I wanted to know what was going on. I saw the 'DemExit' sign and I know that there were rumblings on social media for a very long time about exiting the party after the convention, and I saw the sign, and I realized that's what was going on," she said. "DemExit" has become a common chant and hashtag on social media for the Never Hillary and Bernie or Bust crowd, who threaten that they'll leave the the party if their concerns aren't addressed.

Tucker said that she ultimately believes that "Democrats need to stay and fight," but she says her party "needs to acknowledge that this election was flawed and that the system is vulnerable and that we need to do better."

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