Up to 100 from opposing campaign disrupt Lamont's Greenwich rally

Rose Siding

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Sat Aug-05-06 09:51 AM
Original message

Up to 100 from opposing campaign disrupt Lamont's Greenwich rally

Edited on Sat Aug-05-06 10:03 AM by Rose Siding

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Lamont was greeted by a crowd of about 200 supporters and dozens of Lieberman campaign workers, some of whom followed Lamont and his family to their car.

Tom Swan, Lamont's campaign manager, complained that Lieberman's workers jostled Lamont's supporters and harassed the candidate's family.

"That was nothing but harassment," Swan said.

Swan called Democratic State Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo and asked her to intervene "before someone gets hurt."

Marion Steinfels, a Lieberman campaign spokeswoman, said the Lieberman workers had stayed within bounds.

"They went to Ned's rally in support of Joe Lieberman," she said. "My understanding was there was no inappropriate behavior."

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-sen0805.artaug05,0,4639218.story

Swan's not just blowing rhetoric. Here's an account of someone in the crowd-

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Somewhere close to 100 LieberKidz showed up in Greenwich to disrupt the Lamont campaign rally....

Most of what the LieberKidz did was just generally obnoxious elbowing, jostling, and positioning to get themselves toward the front of the crowd with their signs, rudely stepping in front and blocking the views of people who were actually there to see Ned Lamont speak live for the first time and pay attention to all of the speeches. A few of the kids were openly hostile, talking loudly during speeches, but most spent their time moving around trying to block Lamont signs and didn't shout or try to drown out the speeches.

There was no large scale chanting or coordinated interruption from the LieberKidz, just the overall disruption that comes from having 100 Lieberman staffers talking to each other, distributing plastic golf toys to each other, and talking back to the incredulous Lamont supporters who'd ask them why they were there or ask them to move aside or stop blocking their view. The LieberKidz waited until the rally actually started to push themselves through the crowd that had already assembled in anticipation of the speeches, a strategy that of course caused maximum disturbance and annoyance to the patient and polite crowd already assembled.

I didn't witness any major clashes, just a lot of really defensive Lieberman staffers who pretended not to understand why so many people who had come to hear speeches were annoyed and disgusted by their behavior.

http://www.myleftnutmeg.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2537

Tagaris, at the Lamont blog, said they were mostly quiet even though "at one point" he "was being followed around and mocked by some of the Lieberman protestors". "It was an amazing event, but it�s kind of sad when you have to leave with a sense of relief that no one got hurt," he wrote.

Protesters got sno-cones

"...everyone left with a sense of excitement and re-newed commitment towards elected Ned this Tuesday."