Pro-Palestinian group urges Elissa Slotkin to call for ceasefire during Senate campaign stop
LANSING, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Congresswoman and candidate for U.S. Senate, Elissa Slotkin, was interrupted by a protest at a campaign stop in Lansing on Monday.
Slotkin's event in downtown Lansing was meant to celebrate her campaign by reaching the maximum number of signatures needed to appear on the ballot this fall in her race for the Senate. But her remarks were interrupted by a group of pro-Palestinian protesters urging Slotkin to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The protestors arrived shortly after Slotkin began speaking and carried a banner and megaphone.
"Elissa Slotkin, she is my sister human being, and she is wrong in this blind support of Israel's slaughter of the Gazans," said Peter Dougherty, a member of the protest group.
Slotkin noted the protest and quickly pointed out the protesters' First Amendment rights.
"The requirement for signatures is 15,000. We have 30,000, the maximum number we're able to turn in to get that job done today," Slotkin said during the campaign stop.
The protest outside Slotkin's campaign event came just before another protest in downtown Detroit as part of an international day of resistance.
Protestors in about 150 cars caravanned towards the Ambassador Bridge with loud horns and Palestinian flags before police began making arrests.