“The March on Washington was an example of a movement at a high point, and I’d say this is one of those.”

Dominic Holden / BuzzFeed News

PHILADELPHIA — A spokesperson for a contingent of the Bernie Sanders supporters who stormed out of the Democratic convention on Tuesday compared their walkout to the March on Washington of 1963, a massive demonstration that served as a catalyst to passing landmark civil rights laws.

“The March on Washington was an example of a movement at a high point, and I’d say this is one of those,” Shyla Nelson, a Sanders delegate from Vermont, told BuzzFeed News in an interview.

Dominic Holden / BuzzFeed News Shyla Nelson

Nelson added that she believes the movement to elect Sanders and Tuesday’s walkout from the Wells Fargo Center exhibited a “tipping point” in the movement for a more equitable country. As it become numerically apparent that Clinton had secured the Democratic nomination on Tuesday evening, Bernie Sanders supporters filtered off the convention floor and into the halls of the Wells Fargo Center. They chanted “Walk out!” — and then their chants shifted to include “This is what democracy looks like!” and later “Black lives matter!” Dozens of protesters gathered inside and around media tents populated by reporters. (The tents are located just outside the convention center.) Dozens of protesters wore tape over their mouths. Nelson and other Sanders delegates said she had been selected to speak for the “silent” walkout. In an interview, Nelson said that other contingents of protesters had joined in, and not all the protesters were of the same effort.

Dominic Holden / BuzzFeed News