(AP) PHILADELPHIA — Protesters set an Israeli flag on fire and chanted “Long live the intifada” outside of the Democratic National Convention site in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, as others clashed with police.
A woman wearing a black bandana on her face lit the flag on fire, as protests continued outside of the secure zone around the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Someone stood nearby waving a Palestinian flag.
Protesters also set alight pro-Bernie Sanders fliers that were hanging on steel fencing around the site.
Meanwhile, die-hard Sanders loyalists demonstrated inside and outside the Wells Fargo Center, where the convention is taking place, and clashed with police after Hillary Clinton won the party’s presidential nomination Tuesday.
Despite calls by the liberal Vermont senator for them to support the nominee, thousands of activists have taken to the streets during the convention to voice support for Sanders and his progressive agenda.
Moments after Clinton became the first woman to ever be nominated for president by a major US political party, a large group of Sanders delegates and supporters exited the site to hold a sit-in inside a media tent. Some had their mouths taped shut.
A few spontaneously sang the chorus of the folk song “This Land Is Your Land,” and a banner read “We the people.” They said they were holding a peaceful protest to complain about being shut out by the Democratic Party.
“This was not a convention. This was a four-day Hillary party. And we weren’t welcome,” said Liz Maratea, a New Jersey delegate at the media tent protest. “We were treated like lepers.”
In the streets outside, Sanders supporters who had spent the day protesting began facing off with police. Protesters began scaling eight-foot-high walls blocking off the secure zone around the arena parking lot, and several were detained. An officer sprayed one of the protesters.
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