MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis DFL Ward 10 convention descended into chaos on Saturday afternoon, leading to adjournment without a candidate being endorsed.
Video shot by Wedge LIVE at the convention shows current Minneapolis City Councilwoman Aisha Chughtai's supporters on the stage as a group of people waving signs, backing challenger Nasri Warsame protest.
The video shows a group of Warsame-supporters eventually climbing onto the stage and seemingly forcing the supporters of Chughtai to vacate.
"It was a more contentious convention than I'm used to. There was a lot of shouting, lots of yelling, cheering, booing... But I had no reason to think that it would lead to what happened in the afternoon," said John Edwards, editor and publisher of Wedge LIVE!
Edwards said Chughtai and Warsame were both set to give speeches before a question and answer period.
Chughtai was up first, but when she came on stage "The Warsame campaign started jeering. Eventually, they rushed towards the stage," Edwards recalled. "From my perspective, I don't know what instigated it other than the idea that based on what had happened in the morning, they thought they were losing and basically didn't like how the convention was going."
Warsame said one of his staffers was taken to the hospital after the incident.
"My campaign manager has been assaulted by one of the other campaign staff members, and he’s now being transported to hospital by an ambulance," the candidate said on Facebook.
Meanwhile, Chughtai claimed that more than a dozen of her supporters and DFL volunteers were physically assaulted.
Minneapolis police said that officers were called to a report of a fight at a large gathering, but when they arrived officers said they didn't see any fighting or signs people were injured. In a press release, police said a man in his 30s was taken in an ambulance to HCMC for a medical condition and a woman was treated at the scene for a non-life-threatening injury.
DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin released a statement after watching video and talking to people who were there.
"As we learn more about the incident that took place at the Ward 10 endorsing convention, it is clear that the conflict was instigated by supporters of city council candidate Nasri Warsame," Martin said. "Harassment and violence are unacceptable, and we expect candidates and their campaign teams to work hard to curb such behavior when it comes from their supporters, staffers, or volunteers. Warsame and his team took the opposite approach at today’s convention by escalating the situation and encouraging conflict. Reprehensible behavior like this from any DFL Party candidate and campaign will not be tolerated."
“I would like to apologize to City Council Member Aisha Chughtai, her supporters, and her campaign team for the way they were treated at the Ward 10 convention," the party chair continued. "Our candidates and supporters deserve a safe forum to campaign at, and the Ward 10 convention fell far short of that. Our party will work with local leaders in Minneapolis to ensure future events are not marred by reprehensible conduct.”
Martin took to Twitter Saturday night, posting that he plans to call an emergency meeting later in the week to consider banning anyone involved in the assaults from the DFL Party.
"I've never seen anything... nothing like this," said Samuel Doten, a longtime DFL party volunteer who served as chair of the convention.
"One thing I want to be clear about is it was not everyone and not every supporter by any means of Nasri Warsame, who instigated this behavior or participated in it," Doten said. "But it was perpetrated by quite a number of supporters, particularly those as visitors or as campaign helpers. It was also instigated and escalated by Mr. Warsame's campaign team."
Chughtai released a statement that said, in part, "What happened at the Ward 10 DFL Convention today was horrifying, unacceptable, and indicative of the growing threat to progressive, pro-people candidates and movement leaders. Today, during the Ward 10 Convention, the Nasri Warsame campaign continually made people feel unsafe."
Warsame said barriers and misunderstandings in the convention process led to Saturday's chaos, in a release Sunday night.
"Many delegates felt that their opinions were not being heard and advocated for the process to end in no endorsement. As more and more people participate in conventions, it is important to remain transparent and to teach—not belittle or taunt each other," he said in a statement.
Warsame also called the statements from Chughtai and Martin "defamatory, slander and libel, because they disregard the truth that neither I nor my campaign promoted or encouraged yesterday’s disorder and violence."
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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