DETROIT, MI — Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday fired back at protesters who interrupted her multiple times during her speech at a rally in Michigan.
Speaking to a crowd of over 15,000 people, the Vice President was giving her speech at her second rally of the day when protesters of Israel’s war in Gaza began chanting “Kamala, Kamala you can’t Hide, we won’t vote for genocide.”
The crowd booed and drowned out the protesters with chants of “Kamala! Kamala!”.
“I’m here because we believe in democracy. Everyone’s voice matters, but I am speaking now. I am speaking now,” Harris said to cheers.
As Harris continued to speak, the protesters grew louder, causing the Vice President to give them a blunt warning.
“You know what, if you want Donald Trump to win then say that. Otherwise I’m speaking,” she said.
Protesters have regularly followed President Joe Biden during his events but this marked the first time they have been at a Harris rally since she launched her presidential bid.
Michigan is home to the largest Arab American population, especially in the Detroit suburbs in Dearborn. The Muslim population has criticized the Biden administration’s support for Israel in their war against Hamas following the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
In Michigan’s Democratic primary in February, which Biden won, a majority of primary voters in Dearborn — 57% — voted “uncommitted” over Biden in a protest over his stance on Israel’s war in Gaza.
Last month, Harris met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and issued a warning about Israel furthering the conflict.
“What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating,” Harris said at the time. “The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time. We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent.”
The rally was Harris’ second of the day after she appeared in Wisconsin to a crowd of more than 12,000.
