Security BODY SLAMS climate protester at Ron DeSantis event in Iowa and Florida Governor responds to three separate protesters with ‘I know you have an agenda. Stop!’
An unfortunate protester had his body slammed by a member of Ron DeSantis’ security team at a campaign event in Ames, Iowa, on Thursday.
The governor of Florida was confronted by three separate protesters – all of whom appeared to be involved in environmental activism.
After the event, DeSantis told reporters that while he welcomes conversations, protesters will not be allowed to rush to the stage where he is speaking.
Gov. DeSantis took several questions from the audience at the end of his remarks during the campaign stop at a Jethro’s BBQ restaurant just four days before the Iowa caucuses.
The first protester was a young man shouting about the dangers of fossil fuels.
“I know you have an agenda. Stop! Here we go,” DeSantis said as the protester continued to scream as he was dragged out of the room by a member of the candidate’s security team.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was confronted by protesters in three separate outbursts during a campaign stop in Ames, Iowa, on Thursday evening. He pointed to one and said, “I know you have an agenda. Stop!’
Members of DeSantis’ security team escorted the protesters out of the room — and one unfortunate protester was body-slammed by a member of security during the event
“This guy is like – he wants you to pay more for gas, more for energy, he wants rolling blackouts in this country,” DeSantis said to cheers from those there who supported him. ‘We don’t let such people win. We are going to ensure that we become energy independent.’
The second outburst barely got off the ground before he was tackled.
The protester was a member of “Sunrise Movement,” the same group that sent at least two activists to interrupt the Fox News town hall with DeSantis on Tuesday. But the demonstrator was not the same as those present at the town hall.
The movement emphasizes on its website that its mission is to “force the government to end the era of fossil fuel elites.”
“This is what’s wrong with the university system there. That is Exhibit A,” DeSantis said in reference to the young protesters.
“And honestly, when you start doing that, it’s like he’s stumbling around trying to get his flag out. Like he telegraphed that a mile away, anyone could have seen that,” DeSantis said after his security detail knocked down the protester before they could unfurl their banner.
The 2024 hopefuls recalled two nights earlier: “Some of these guys actually infiltrated – I did a town hall on Fox News – well, I don’t know if they infiltrated or if they were welcome to do so. But they were there. They tried to rush the stage there.”
DeSantis spoke to a packed crowd at Jethro’s BBQ in Ames, Iowa, on Thursday evening, with just four days until the Iowa caucuses on January 15
Less than minutes later, a third protester was forced out of the meeting room.
“No, no, no, we’re waiting, we’re waiting,” DeSantis said as the crowd grew increasingly irritated by the interruptions.
“You see that all the time,” the governor noted. ‘You see who they spend money on. You see what they do with the media.’
“That’s what I would say to Republican voters: who the media is looking for, who the media doesn’t want as a candidate, that’s the best support a Republican can ever get. So they’re coming after me,” he concluded.
Although the outbursts occurred back-to-back-to-back, it is unclear whether the three protesters were part of the same group.
They did not demonstrate together and did not stand directly next to each other at the campaign stop.