An elected Democrat from Tennessee, who had demonstrated a week ago for better supervision of firearms after a massacre at a school, was expelled from the House of Representatives of this US state, with a Republican majority, on Thursday.
Elected officials voted 72 to 25 to exclude Justin Jones, who joined hundreds of protesters March 30 demanding stricter gun regulations just days after a shooting at a Christian school in Nashville. , the capital of this southern state, in which six people lost their lives, including three children.
“This has never happened in our history”
Protesters had entered the Tennessee Capitol to challenge local elected officials assembled in session. “What do we want? Weapons regulations! When do we want it? Now!”, they had chanted in the corridors.
Justin Jones had used a megaphone to invite protesters to shout slogans like “Power to the people.”
“An elected official who has expressed his opposition can be excluded, it is unheard of in Tennessee. This has never happened in our history,” the elected official reacted on American television.
“I will continue to hold them accountable for their actions… It’s not just about me, it’s also about trying to silence and exclude the movement that we’re trying to bring about.”
“It is shocking, undemocratic and unprecedented”
Another Democrat-elect, Gloria Johnson, also threatened with exclusion for the same reasons, managed to keep her seat, while MPs were due to decide in the afternoon on whether to sideline a third Democrat-elect, Justin Pearson, also accused of having participated in the demonstration. .
“Three children and three officials shot dead in another mass shooting. And what are the GOP elected officials focusing on? Punish elected officials who joined thousands of peaceful protesters demanding action,” US President Joe Biden criticized on Twitter.
“It is shocking, undemocratic and unprecedented,” he added.
On March 28, Audrey Hale, 28, stormed into a Christian elementary school, the Covenant School, with two assault rifles and a pistol, killing herself before she was shot dead by police.
The tragedy, whose motive is unknown, has aroused great expectations and revived the debate on the circulation of firearms in the United States, where they are the leading cause of death for minors.
Source: BFM TV
