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Bernie Sanders Supporters Stage Walkout After Hillary Clinton Clinches Nomination

By Robert Jonathan
Published on: 14:12 PST, Jul 26, 2016

Despite calls for unity from Bernie Sanders himself, hundreds of his supporters staged a walkout from the DNC convention after Hillary Clinton was officially confirmed this evening as the Democrat presidential nominee.

The DNC walkout by Sanders delegates at the Wells Fargo Center is getting heavy play on social media as the Bernie-or-bust cohort then converged on the media tent amid a heavy police presence. While some of the Sanders crew is reportedly staging a sit-in in the media room, others were apparently unable to gain access and found themselves on the outside looking in, which may be a metaphor for the entire Sanders presidential bid.

Several Bernie delegates have taped their mouths shut in a symbolic protest over how their preferred candidate was treated by party insiders. “The demonstrators linked arms, duct-taped their mouths shut to signify their votes had been ‘silenced’ at the convention, and held up signs with phrases like ‘The revolution continues’ and ‘#DemExit,'” CBS News observed.

“Their protest and exodus is in line with what hundreds of protesters had been saying outside the convention’s security perimeter. Many said Hillary Clinton’s nomination as the Democratic candidate for president would prompt them to quit the party,” NBC Philadelphia added.

“After filing out of the arena they entered the press tent in search of obliging cameras, eventually taking over a tent and triggering a lockdown, with even credentialed media denied access from outside, according to multiple reports,” Politico detailed about the “occupy media” effort in the DNC walkout.

During the roll call, Bernie Sanders himself headed to the Vermont delegation and called upon the entire assemblage in the arena to suspend the traditional state-by-state ceremony and validate the Hillary Clinton presidential nomination by acclimation.

After a contentious primary fight, the Vermont senator endorsed Hillary Clinton on July 12 in New Hampshire and again last night, to the dismay of many in his anti-establishment movement.

The DNC in Philadelphia has become engulfed in controversy and unrest over the WikiLeaks #DNCLeaks email dump, nearly 20,000 messages, that suggests that the party attempted to undermine the insurgent presidential campaign of Sanders in favor of Hillary Clinton, including collusion with news outlets to make Bernie and his campaign look bad.

As the Inquisitr reported earlier, the Democratic National Committee officially apologized to Sanders and his supporters “for the inexcusable remarks made over email” and the lack of neutrality during the primary season.

The Democrats also approved a tentative plan to supposedly downgrade the influence of many of the superdelegates by the time the next presidential election rolls around in four years. The controversy over superdelegates has become a wedge issue for different factions among the Democrats.

Even before the email dump, many Sanders activists believed that the party establishment rigged the nomination for Hillary Clinton from the start. It’s now unclear where the die-hard #NeverHillary, Bernie Sanders voters will gravitate to on Election Day in November.

It may be a mix of staying home, voting for the Green Party’s Jill Stein, or even casting a ballot for GOP nominee Donald Trump, who shares Bernie’s opposition to international trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership that often send U.S. jobs overseas. Sanders and Trump also opposed the Iraq War, which Hillary Clinton voted for while serving in the U.S. Senate.

Earlier today, Sanders delegates also tried to put forth a vice presidential nominee other than Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, but that effort was thwarted by convention managers, Breitbart News claimed..

“Delegates walked out after being told that if they booed or waved pro-Sanders signs during Tuesday’s speeches, their credentials would be pulled, some said,” Cleveland.com reported.

Sanders supporters chanted “walk-out” and “this is what Democracy looks like” among other things. Others shouted, “Hell no DNC, we won’t vote for Hillary.”

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told CNN today that his organization would be releasing more material that relates to the U.S. presidential election. He also chided the Clinton campaign for trying to distract from the damaging content of the emails themselves by blaming the Russians for the hack.

A Black Lives Matter march is also reportedly underway outside the Wells Fargo Center.

As the Inquisitr previously reported, the Philadelphia convention venue is surrounded by an eight-foot security fence.

Given the anger among some Bernie Sanders delegates as exemplified by the DNC walkout, plus his disappointed/unhapppy progressive supporters in the wider electorate, do you think that the Democrats will be able to unify around Hillary Clinton by the time Election Day rolls around?

[Photo by Alex Brandon/AP Images]

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