Protesters were arrested and tasered as a speech by US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was repeatedly disrupted on Tuesday.
Demonstrators were forcibly thrown out of the town hall in Acworth, Georgia because Ms Greene, a far-right politician and businesswoman, said they were being unruly. However, they merely yelled at Ms Greene and heckled her address, which centred around Donald Trump and the “great job” he is doing.
Ms Greene, 50, repeatedly said “bye” to people being escorted from the room and praised officers’ response, saying the appropriate place for those ejected was with more than 100 protesters lining a street outside the community centre. She continued: “This is a town hall; this is not a political rally; this is not a protest.”
One protester held up a sign alluding to claims Ms Greene improperly profited from buying stocks when Mr Trump partially paused tariffs against many countries last week. In questions from reporters afterwards, the politician, from Milledgeville, Georgia, did not specifically deny having advance knowledge of the pause but repeated a financial adviser manages her stock holdings without input from her.
At least three people were arrested at the event, and others were escorted out of the building. After which, the Republican told the crowd: “I am going to stand by my president.” She added that she would “fight for his agenda with everything I have in Congress.”
Ms Greene, who last month lashed out at a Sky News journalist, also argued on Tuesday the “real economy” is thriving under Mr Trump and said people shouldn’t worry about turmoil in the stock and bond markets. In doing so, the businesswoman flatly denied the economic consensus that tariffs will lead to higher prices.
“The reality is tariffs are not a massive tax on the American people. The tax on the American people that you’ve been suffering with is the inflation that Biden and the Democrats put on the American people and their absolute reckless spending for the past four years,” Ms Greene told the room in Acworth, which is around 30 miles northwest of Atlanta.
Referring to Mr Trump’s tariffs generally, she continued: “He did a great job. He bought the dip, and that’s what anybody with any financial sense does when they know the market is going to be going down.”
Acworth Police Sergeant Eric Mistretta said he did not yet have the names of the people arrested or the charges filed against them after the meeting. He said he believed officers responded with appropriate force to people who yelled at Ms Greene and then resisted removal, although none approached her. About 30 officers provided security, including Cobb County police and sheriff’s deputies, Sgt Mistretta said.
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