A Muslim Delegate Peacefully Protested at the Convention. She Said Her Party Turned Against Her.

The Florida delegate said she was restricted from accessing the convention floor during the roll call after protesting the night before. “If Democrats will punish you for your opinion, who are we?” another demonstrator said.

Protest banner blocked during Biden's DNC speech.
Some convention attendees partially blocked a banner protesting the war in Gaza during President Joe Biden’s remarks. J. Scott Applewhite/AP

The Florida delegate who unfurled a protest banner during President Joe Biden’s speech that read “Stop Arming Israel” told NOTUS that she wasn’t allowed on the convention floor the next night for the roll call vote, delegates’ most important event of the week.

Nadia Ahmad, a delegate from Florida who cast a present ballot, was hit on the head with one of the hundreds of long ‘We Love Joe’ signs by a man behind her, a video of the convention floor shows.

The next morning, when Ahmad, a Muslim woman who wears a hijab, went to pick up her access passes to the convention floor – as delegates are required to daily – there was no floor badge available to her, she told NOTUS. She was relegated to a separate section away from the Florida delegation for guests without floor access, Ahmad said.