Rift between Sanders loyalists, party brass lingers

Hundreds of protesters gather outside convention site

The tension between Bernie Sanders activists and Democratic Party brass set to crown Hillary Clinton their nominee lingered in pockets of Philadelphia as the final day of the convention dawned.

Actors and delegates took centre stage in smaller and more subdued protests by Bernie Sanders supporters on a mostly quiet Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention.

Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, Shailene Woodley and Rosario Dawson joined forces as night fell to protest what they consider slights against loyalists of Sanders, a Vermont US senator who competed against Hillary Clinton in the party’s presidential primaries before endorsing her.

Sarandon said convention organisers scuttled planned remarks from prominent Sanders surrogate Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator, at the convention on Tuesday night.

“This has not gone by lightly, and ... we are upset,” Sarandon said as the other celebrities joined her on a platform.

Late on Wednesday, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the convention site as Vice-President Joe Biden, vicepresidential nominee Tim Kaine and President Barack Obama spoke inside. There were two distinct groups of protesters” one peaceful, the other antigovernment. At one point a protester’s clothes caught fire while trying to stomp out the flames on a burning flag. The protester dropped to the ground and rolled round to put the fire out.

Tense moments

Another tense moment arose when protesters knocked over part of a security fence, but police quickly moved in and put the fence back up.

Earlier in the day, half a dozen Sanders delegates spoke to about 300 demonstrators gathered at a plaza near City Hall, about 4 miles from the convention site, for rallies and speeches.

Erika Onsrud, an at-large delegate from Minnesota, told the people in the crowd that they need to continue to fight. Amid cheers, she exhorted them: “Stay awake!”

A few blocks away, police detained 10 protesters at Comcast’s corporate headquarters for holding a sit-in accusing the cable TV giant and NBC owner of not reporting the truth. Officers zip-tied them and briefly closed the 975-foot-tall skyscraper to all but Comcast employees. The demonstrators were ticketed and released.

The absence of marches was a marked change from earlier in the week, with some Sanders supporters saying their comrades seemed fatigued and frustrated.