Actors, delegates protest on quiet Day 3

Actors Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover and Rosario Dawson have slammed the Democratic Committee for stifling the remarks of Bernie Sanders' supporters.

Sanders

A Bernie Sanders supporter holds a sign that reads "Bernie Has My Heart, Hillary Has My Vote!" during the third day of the DNC> Source: Getty Images

Actors and delegates took centre stage in smaller and more subdued protests by Bernie Sanders supporters on a mostly quiet Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention.

Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, Shailene Woodley and Rosario Dawson joined forces as night fell on Wednesday to protest what they consider slights against loyalists of Sanders, a Vermont US senator who competed against Hillary Clinton in the party's presidential primaries before endorsing her.

Sarandon said convention organisers scuttled planned remarks from prominent Sanders surrogate Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator, at the convention on Tuesday night.

"There's been a lot of difficulty in executing the will of Bernie Sanders' people and surrogates, and this was just a topping for the whole thing because she was ready to go. And she was very, very disappointed," Sarandon said as the other celebrities joined her on a platform. "This has not gone by lightly, and ... we are upset."

Late on Wednesday, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the convention site as Vice President Joe Biden, vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine and President Barack Obama spoke inside.

There were two distinct groups of protesters; one peaceful, the other anti-government.

At one point a protester's clothes caught on fire while trying to stomp out the flames on a burning flag. The protester dropped to the ground and rolled around to put the fire out.

Another tense moment arose when protesters knocked over part of a security fence, but police quickly moved in and put the fence back up. The Secret Service said seven people were arrested and will be charged with entering a restricted area.

Earlier in the day, half a dozen Sanders delegates spoke to about 300 demonstrators gathered at a plaza near City Hall, about 6km from the convention site, for rallies and speeches.

Erika Onsrud, an at-large delegate from Minnesota, told the people in the crowd they need to continue to fight. Amid cheers, she exhorted them: "Stay awake!"

Other delegates acknowledged that Sanders' loss was disappointing but told the supporters they can create change without the Democratic Party and the mainstream media, contending the media contributed to a rigged election.

A few blocks away, police detained 10 protesters at Comcast's corporate headquarters for holding a sit-in accusing the cable TV giant and NBC owner of not reporting the truth.

Officers zip-tied them and briefly closed the 300-metre-tall skyscraper to all but Comcast employees. The demonstrators were ticketed and released.

Another group of about a dozen anti-Israel demonstrators protested at a hotel where a number of delegations to the four-day convention were staying. They called for a free Palestine.

The absence of marches was a marked change from earlier in the week, with some Sanders supporters saying their comrades seemed fatigued and frustrated.

Demonstrator Shannon Morgan, from suburban New York, said she was fatigued by political frustration, long days and hot pavement that burned through the soles of her Vans and scorched the bottoms of her feet.

She described herself as an anarchist socialist and said she can't understand why Sanders supporters are still singing and cheering.

"I don't believe in burning things down," she said, but she added it's frustrating "to see them still happy and not storm the convention centre and sit in".

The longstanding bitterness between Sanders' supporters and Clinton's seemed to grow worse over the past few days after a trove of hacked emails showed that officials at the Democratic National Committee played favourites during the primaries and sought to undermine Sanders' campaign.

Sanders on Monday criticised Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and urged supporters to fall in line behind Clinton for the good of the country. But many were unmoved.


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Source: AAP


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