Protesters Interrupt Joe Biden During Democratic Debate

By Nate Nickolai

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Protesters interrupted presidential candidate Joe Biden during Thursday’s .

The chants came nearly two and a half hours in as moderator George Stephanopoulos asked the former vice president about any professional setbacks he’s faced and how he recovered from them.

“We’re going to clear the protesters,” Stephanopoulos said as the chants began. “We’re sorry.”

According to multiple reports, the protesters appear to be referencing DACA, an American immigration policy that protected some children from deportation. The chant itself is unconfirmed.

Hecklers also took over the last democratic debate in July , in which protesters interrupted Senator Cory Booker’s opening statement in an effort to confront Bill De Blasio about his handling of a police case in which New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo engaged in a fatal struggle with Eric Garner in 2014.

“Fire Pantaleo,” the protesters chanted.

Later on, another group of protesters interrupted Biden by chanting “3 million deportations,” likely in reference to the number of people deported under the Obama administration.

Those chants came during Biden’s response to a question in which the moderator highlighted higher rates of deportation under the Obama administration than those under the Trump administration.

Other members of Thursday’s debate included Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Bernie Sanders, Booker, Julian Castro, Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Pete Buttigieg and Andrew Yang.