CLEVELAND — As GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump spoke at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night, he was briefly interrupted by veteran protester Medea Benjamin. She began shouting and waving a banner that read “BUILD BRIDGES NOT WALLS,” a critique of Trump’s plan to build a wall on the United States’ southern border.

Benjamin was forcibly removed from the convention floor by police. As she was taken away, she denounced Trump as “racist,” “Islamophobic,” “anti-immigrant” and “anti-woman.”

“He’s a danger to our country and the world! He’s a danger to all of us! Say no to Donald Trump! He’s a danger to the world!” she exclaimed.

Trump, who had started his speech by declaring himself a “law and order” candidate, paused as Benjamin was pulled off the convention floor clutching a banner in her hands. Audience members attempted to drown out her shouts with chants of “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” After Benjamin was taken out, Trump acknowledged her removal by praising the police officers who had carried her out.

“How great are our police, and how great is Cleveland?” he asked.

Protester Medea Benjamin of Code Pink is taken away as Donald Trump speaks on the final day of the Republican National Convention. (Photo: Matt Rourke/AP)

Benjamin is the co-founder of the antiwar activist group Code Pink. She and the group’s other members specialize in infiltrating and disrupting political events, including multiple party conventions. In a conversation with Yahoo News shortly after her protest, Benjamin said members of Code Pink caused interruptions on three of the four nights of the RNC, which began Monday and ended with Trump’s speech. Benjamin said she was there to criticize Trump’s “hawkish policies.” However, she stressed that she doesn’t support Trump’s rival, the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.

“You know, I’m very upset with Hillary Clinton’s foreign policies that have been very hawkish,” Benjamin said. “So it wasn’t anything done to support one party or the other.”

Benjamin and other members of Code Pink plan to travel to Philadelphia to protest next week’s Democratic convention. She said they get inside the conventions because the party activists and delegates in attendance “just give us their badges.”

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“There are a lot of Republicans who don’t like Donald Trump. I mean, we’ve been out on the streets all these days, and we’ve just seen so many people who come up and say — you know, they agree with us that Donald Trump is not fit to be president,” Benjamin said. “There seemed like a lot of enthusiasm tonight, but from what I’ve seen, there’s a tremendous crisis in this party, and I think it’s going to be a very difficult electoral season for them.”

After protesting at so many major events, Benjamin has become fairly well known. She was “amazed” security didn’t notice her infiltrating the RNC.

“There was a congressman there who came up and said hello,” Benjamin said. “There were people who winked at me. I’m sure there were people who recognized me, but thankfully they didn’t say anything. I was indeed nervous the whole time that somebody was going to come and pull me out because I had been recognized.”

Benjamin wasn’t sure which lawmaker she saw, but she said he was wearing a congressional lapel pin. She spent about two hours waiting on the convention floor for Trump’s speech and was “very nervous the entire time.”

“It’s scary. I mean, you look out and you see a sea of people who are so enthusiastic and cheering, and you know that the people around you are going to be really upset with you. It is scary,” she said.

When she was pulled out, Benjamin said the police were “extremely professional.” She couldn’t recall anything members of the audience said to her.

“I was so focused on the moment, I couldn’t even hear,” she said.

Once she left, Benjamin wanted a beer to help her relax.

“I would love to get a beer, but I actually am catching an Amtrak train in a couple of hours to go back to Washington, D.C., to get ready for Philadelphia. So there won’t be a lot of unwinding — although I think a beer is in order,” Benjamin continued. “When the Secret Service asked me, ‘Do I drink or smoke or have mental illnesses?’ I said, ‘I must confess, I would really love a beer tonight.’”

Yahoo News was on hand as Benjamin was taken off the convention floor. Watch a video of her exit below.

The protester who interrupted Trump’s speech was Code Pink’s @medeabenjamin. She was forcibly removed by police. pic.twitter.com/XnmGiX3Hvb — Hunter Walker (@hunterw) July 22, 2016







This post was updated at 1:41 a.m. on Friday, July 22, 2016, with details from our conversation with Benjamin.

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