Jeb Bush was forced to end a town hall event in Nevada early after Black Lives Matter activists interrupted the event by chanting at the former Florida governor and his supporters.
After Bush answered numerous questions at the town hall, protesters began to shout “Black Lives Matter,” while a few of Bush’s supporters responded with “All Lives Matter” chants, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Competing chants of “Black Lives Matter!” and a few “White Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter” pic.twitter.com/7J8wYgJ6Zf
— Seema Mehta (@LATSeema) August 13, 2015
Just before ending the event, Bush responded to a question about the treatment of minorities by the police, according to the LA Times. Bush noted that he believes that racism still persists in America and said that he has “a record of empowering people” in disadvantaged communities. He then quickly ended the town hall without his typical closing statement, the LA Times reported.
Bush’s campaign told the LA Times that the former governor met with Black Lives Matter activists earlier in the day on Wednesday, and they discussed criminal justice reform.
Black Lives Matters activists have recently targeted events held by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), prompting the Democratic presidential candidate to
cut events short.
Watch a video of the Wednesday protest via CNN: