MINNEAPOLIS — Saturday’s Ward 10 DFL Convention in Minneapolis was supposed to end with a candidate endorsed for city council. Instead, it ended with multiple people in the hospital and police on the scene – and no endorsement.
Prior to incumbent Aisha Chughtai’s time to address the crowd, supporters of challenger Nasri Warsame approached and eventually took the stage.
The moment, captured on cell phone video, lasted for several minutes and forced the convention to end abruptly.
“It was a disruption, it was chaos,” said DFL volunteer Quentin Wathum-Ocama. “I’ve never seen anything like this, and I’ve been doing this close to a decade.”
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Wathum-Ocama, who volunteered as a co-sergeant of arms for Saturday’s convention, attempted to break up the dispute before eventually being overrun by Warsame’s supporters. Then, his main focus was on getting Chughtai to safety.
“I was very fearful for her in that moment that folks were going to come and put hands on her,” he said. “People were trying to throw things at me, throw punches at me from the well of the auditorium.”
Late Saturday, Minnesota DFL Chair Ken Martin tweeted the party would be calling an emergency meeting to investigate what happened. Party expulsion, he wrote, was a possibility for those engaged in violence.
Wathum-Ocama says he’s in favor of expelling those who took part in the disruption.
“We cannot send the message that you can come and disrupt democratic processes and be rewarded for it,” he said. “We cannot let this be a play in somebody’s playbook for the future that they think they can come and use these kind of tactics to come disrupt this process to get a result that they want.”
As for Warsame, Wathum-Ocama says he’s disappointed the candidate didn’t step in.
“He had a duty to help deescalate the situation, he failed to do that,” Wathum-Ocama said. “He failed to do it. He actively participated in physical intimidation to me and other members. He had to be restrained. He failed as a leader, and that’s not someone we should have on city council.”
“There is no space for them in this party if people are going to physically attack one another because they’re not getting something they want,” Wathum-Ocama said.
In a statement to Facebook, Warsame said his campaign manager and a delegate had been assaulted. He also said he requested people to stop the violence but it “went unanswered.”
“We deeply regret the unexpected and unfortunate events that took place Saturday, May 13th, at the Ward 10 Convention. I do not condone violence and I do not condone yesterday’s events. The incident should have never happened. I apologize to those who were impacted, and I pray for all who were injured,” he wrote.
