A town hall event held by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez descended into chaos when a large group of protesters took it over on Wednesday.
The incident took place at a Listening Forum event at the Boys and Girls Club in Astoria, Queens.
The group was protesting several different issues, including the rising crime rate and LGBTQ-specific housing resources.
As the congresswoman spoke of LGBTQ centers, one of the protesters responded, “so, if I don’t have butt sex, I don’t have a place to live?”
“Sir, your sexual orientation has nothing to do with it,” Ocasio-Cortez replied in the video, which was taken by a reporter with Freedom News TV.
The protesters held signs including “AOC is an Obvious Criminal,” “F-ck Joe Biden,” and “Wake up New York.”
At one point, one of the protesters began playing a bongo drum as others chanted “AOC has got to go.” As they chanted, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez danced along.
AOC dances to protesters chanting “AOC has got to go” at an event in her district tonight
How absolutely humiliating.
Watch. pic.twitter.com/Ap8sFJJei2
— Danny De Urbina (@dannydeurbina) October 20, 2022
During the protest, the lights shut off, and the congresswoman was temporarily rushed out by security. When she returned, she explained that she is not allowed to be in dark rooms.
Later, as the protesters chanted, “vote her out,” supporters in the crowd began responding with “no!”
This is the second time a Q&A with the congresswoman was interrupted by protests this month.
At a similar event on October 12, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was called out by former supporters over her position on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
One of the protesters, Joe Vega, tweeted a video of the confrontation and wrote, “my friend @Noggatone and I confronted Congresswoman @AOC on her support for Nuclear War and Ukrainian Nazis. I call her out for being a coward in the face of the party that will push us all into Nuclear war right now. Will she stand up like @TulsiGabbard and fight for peace?”
My friend @Noggatone and I confronted Congresswoman @AOC on her support for Nuclear War and Ukrainian Nazis. I call her out for being a coward in the face of the party that will push us all into Nuclear war right now. Will she stand up like @TulsiGabbard and fight for peace? pic.twitter.com/aQiQvQSWIN
— Jose Vega (@JosBtrigga) October 13, 2022
The protesters were upset that she has been siding with more hawkish members of her party, despite running as an anti-war outsider.
“Tulsi Gabbard, she’s left the Democratic Party because they are war hawks,” the concerned citizen shouted. “You ran as an outsider! Yet, you’ve been voting to start this war in Ukraine.”
“Why are you playing with the lives of American citizens?” he demanded. “You’re playing with our lives!”
During both events, the congresswoman accused the protesters of not having decorum or being “rude.”
However, in 2020, Ocasio-Cortez infamously tweeted that “the whole point of protesting is to make people uncomfortable.”
