Sen. Elizabeth Warren's rally on Thursday night in Atlanta was interrupted by a group of parents protesting the Massachusetts Democrat's stance on charter schools—but the grassroots-appearing demonstration was reportedly funded by the billionaire Walton family, which has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into privately-run schools critics say pull money away from public education.

As Warren spoke to a crowd at the historically black college Clark Atlanta University about the 1881 Atlanta Washerwoman's Strike, members of the audience began chanting, "Our children, our choice!" and "We want to be heard!"

Pro-charter school protesters disrupt ⁦@ewarren⁩ speech at Clark Atlanta. They told reporters they came from all over the country to be here. pic.twitter.com/vEmji0a58R — Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) November 22, 2019

Protesters interrupt Warren’s speech, chanting “We want to be heard.” Others in the crowd chant back “Warren” and “Let her speak.” pic.twitter.com/R0CQN09LIT — Hayley Miller (@hayleymiller01) November 22, 2019

Journalist Ryan Grim of The Intercept detailed how the protest was led by a group funded by the Waltons.

Sarah Carpenter, executive director of the pro-charter school group Memphis Lift Parent Institute, led the demonstration, which brought parents from all over the country to Atlanta by soliciting donations through GoFundMe.

The event's GoFundMe page showed numerous $1,000 donations from anonymous sources.

They said they raised funds on GoFundMe, which is true. But it’s stacked with anonymous $1,000 donations pic.twitter.com/5oxK0PBCuN — Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) November 22, 2019

Carpenter's group "is 100% funded by the Walton Foundation," wrote Grim.

The organization is 100% funded by the Walton Foundation. Carpenter had claimed to reporters the group started organically a few weeks ago in response to Warren’s charter plan. pic.twitter.com/9jEswc43mj — Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) November 22, 2019

Pro-charter groups have been critical of Warren's education plan, which is partially focused on reining in the charter school system and its use of public funds.

"We have a responsibility to provide great neighborhood schools for every student," Warren wrote in her plan last month. "We should stop the diversion of public dollars from traditional public schools... We should fight back against the privatization, corporatization, and profiteering in our nation's schools."

Under the senator's proposal, new for-profit charter schools would be banned from opening, and the IRS would be directed to investigate charter schools that operate as non-profits to ensure they don't actually benefit for-profit interests.

Warren supports the NAACP's proposal to allow only public school districts to authorize charter schools and would require that charter schools are "subject to the same transparency and accountability requirements as traditional public schools."

"Our public schools should benefit students, not the financial or ideological interests of wealthy patrons like the DeVos and Walton families," Warren wrote.

The Intercept journalist Rachel Cohen pointed out that Warren has not proposed measures that would threaten the schools that the protesters at her rally send their children to "unless they were fraudulent or for-profit."

"Frankly suggesting that stronger transparency standards for publicly-funded charter schools would 'limit parental choice' is an incoherent talking point that really should not be taken seriously," she added. "Increased transparency only 'limits choice' if the charter schools themselves refuse to accept higher transparency standards."

The obviously awkward position those charter protestors are in is they’re trying to say Warren’s taking away their “choice” but her policy wouldn’t actually affect the schools their kids go to, unless they were fraudulent or for-profit. — Rachel Cohen (@rmc031) November 22, 2019

and frankly suggesting that stronger transparency standards for publicly-funded charter schools would "limit parental choice" is an incoherent talking point that really should not be taken seriously — Rachel Cohen (@rmc031) November 22, 2019

Many national polls—often conducted by pro-charter groups—show high support for charter schools among black Americans. Many of the demonstrators at Warren's rally were black. But even in polling by the pro-charter group Democrats for Education Reform, Cohen added, a majority of both black and white respondents support a moratorium on new charter schools.

Warren halted her speech for several moments during the demonstration, while Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), who endorsed the senator in the 2020 Democratic primary earlier this month, appealed to the parents to speak with Warren about their education concerns after the rally.

"We are grateful for your activism and your voice and you are welcome here," Pressley said. "No one is here to quiet you, least not this Black woman."

As protesters interrupt Elizabeth Warren in Atlanta again, @AyannaPressley comes to the stage. Warren: "What do we do with this?" Watch Rep. Pressley: pic.twitter.com/ISgzLxi194 — Tommy X-TrumpIsARacist-opher (@tommyxtopher) November 22, 2019

Grim reported that Warren "had a nice conversation" with the demonstrators after the rally.

One critic of the protest's funders proposed one reason why the Waltons bankrolled the demonstration: Warren's pledge to attack wealth inequality by imposing new taxes on the richest Americans.