Protesters interrupt speech at sessions on religious freedom

Attorney General Jeff Sessions was interrupted on Monday by a handful of protesters at an event extolling the work of his Justice Department on religious freedom, as it encouraged "mutual respect," but also qualified for the "freedom of religion". one of the protester's comments of "attacks".

At the beginning of his remarks at the meeting of the Federalist Society in Boston, a man disguised as a clergy and who introduced himself as a United Methodist, like Sessions, began riffing a verse from the Bible that calls for welcoming strangers and help those in need. He also called the sessions to "repent".

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As the protester was escort by the police, the sessions said, "Thank you for your comments and your attacks."

Shortly after, a second protester disguised as a minister began reading a Bible. and he was also escorted out of the room when he shouted that he was exercising his freedom of religion.

A third protester was kidnapped after the Sessions speech, waving a transgender pride flag and shouting: "We will not be obliterated," an apparent reference to the Trump administration's proposal to restrict the legal definition of the kind of to exclude transgender people from certain legal protections.

The sessions briefly touched on this weekend's shootings in a Pittsburgh synagogue in his remarks. The suspect involved in the shooting, which killed 11 people, said he wanted to kill Jews, according to a federal affidavit. Federal prosecutors would seek the death penalty in this case, Sessions said.

"It was not just an attack on the Jewish faith. It was an attack on all believers. And it was an attack on American values ​​of protecting the faith. It can not – it will not – be tolerated, "said Sessions.

He mocked what he called a "total cultural war" against the believers and lamented that "respect for religious freedom and believers has eroded significantly over the past few years. decades ".

"Maybe what we need is not more litigation, but more tolerance or patience for others," he said.