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Last updated on Friday, February 16, 2018
(BLOOMINGTON) - A man and his megaphone silenced the Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton’s State of the City address Thursday night at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.
Mayor John Hamilton's State of the City address began, but he never got the opportunity to finish his address.
The mayor opened by talking about the Parkland, Florida, school shooting and then moved to the purchase of an armored vehicle for the Bloomington Police Department.
That is when 34-year-old Vauhxx Booker stood up and began protesting with a bull horn, while others chanted "black lives matter."
Booker has a Facebook event called "#Blacklivesmatter Disrupts the State" which he created after Bloomington Police announced Tuesday they were purchasing an armored vehicle. He and the other protesters are upset about the city's purchase of a $225,000 armored vehicle, which they say is the same that was used against peaceful protesters, both in the Standing Rock protests of the Dakota Access pipeline, and in Ferguson, Missouri, following the police shooting death of an unarmed black man.
Before the Mayor's address, two protesters passed out fliers saying "Just Say NO! To Militarized Policing." There were more than 70 protesters at the event.
Officials attempted to quite the group, but were unsuccessful. Mayor Hamilton requested multiple times to be allowed to proceed with his remarks, but that didn't happen.
Bloomington City Council President Dorothy Granger called for a 15 minute recess. But during that time a shouting match took place between Booker and city council members, with Booker yelling in the megaphone, just inches from City Councilmember Stephen Volan's face.
Hamilton tried to resume his speech after the recess, but he couldn't be heard over the protests that crowded in front of the stage and shouted over him, so Granger adjourned the meeting.
Bloomington Police chief Mike Diekhoff says the department was aware that a protest was planned for the State of the City speech and he consulted with the mayor prior to the address.
Cake celebrating the city's bicentennial was served as the audience left. The city's birthday was meant to be the final focus of Hamilton's address. An address he never finished. No dates have been set for these future meetings.
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