Minnesota U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s guest for the State of the Union address was removed from the chamber during President Trump’s speech and later arrested.

“My guest, Aliya Rahman, stood up silently in the gallery during the president’s speech for a short period of time, part of which other guests were also standing. For that, she was forcibly removed, despite warning officers about her injured shoulders and ultimately charged with ‘Unlawful Conduct,’" Omar said in a statement.

Rahman, a Bangladeshi American, was dragged out of her vehicle by federal agents in Minneapolis last month on the way to a medical appointment. Rahman testified at a Congressional forum that she was dragged through the street and suffered severe injuries to her shoulders, leaving her unable to lift her arms normally.

Omar claims Rahman was treated aggressively again last night.

“Reports indicate she was aggressively handled until someone intervened to secure medical attention. She was taken to George Washington University Hospital for treatment and later booked at the United States Capitol Police headquarters,” Omar said. "The heavy-handed response to a peaceful guest sends a chilling message about the state of our democracy. I am calling for a full explanation of why this arrest occurred.”

  • IronBird@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    gotta love completely arbitrary made-up numbers when it comes to these “debates” too. hell, I would hazard to guess that the US’s godawful for-profit/ratfucking galore healthcare system kills far more than that through sheer negligence (denying claims, general expense detering use, deadly conditions that could get caught/managed early with proper proactice healthcare instead reactive (which is more lucrative), people being to afraid to call an ambulance, the list goes on).

    all lives that could be saved by ditching it for some single payer/universal system, call out all these parasitic middlemen.