hi INDiA Copyright 2022-2050
GREAT BARRINGTON, MS — A man was arrested on July 22 in Great Barrington, Mass., outside a townhall event for US Sen. Elizabeth Warren when he got into a scuffle with the independent challenger to Warren’s seat, Shiva Ayyadurai.
Ayyadurai was campaigning outside of the Democratic incumbent’s event when a “racist guy committed a hate crime” by hitting him in the face with his own megaphone, the Indian American candidate said in a Twitter video post.
“Fortunately the police were here and they took him away,” he said in the video. “It really says a lot about what’s going on in this country because you can’t have a civil discourse.”
A video of the scuffle posted on YouTube shows Ayyadurai using his megaphone to question why townhall attendees won’t engage in a “discourse on racism,” when a man begins to yell back.
The Warren challenger immediately says, “that’s right, you’re the racist,” before chanting “Racist, racist, racist.”
The man then pushes Ayyadurai’s megaphone, which hit him in the face. Supporters of Ayyadurai came to his defense, taking the man to the ground, and Ayyadurai could be heard saying, “guys, stop,” until officers intervened and arrested the man.
“That’s racism, right there,” Ayyadurai, who was bleeding and his lips swollen as a result of the attack, said.
In an email to supporters, Ayyadurai urged Warren to disavow herself from the hate crime.