A group of congregants in Selma, Ala., stood up and turned their backs on Mike Bloomberg as the Democratic presidential candidate addressed their church on Sunday.
As the former Big Apple mayor delivered his remarks about voter suppression and civil rights to the historic Brown Chapel AME Church, about 10 people silently turned their backs to him and remained standing throughout his address.
Others applauded Bloomberg.
The Rev. Leodis Strong, the church’s pastor who introduced Bloomberg, said he encouraged the former mayor to come to the church on the 55th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” when white state troopers attacked black marchers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
“I think that it’s important for Mr. Bloomberg, Mayor Bloomberg, to hear from you, listen to you, to learn from you,” Strong said.
“Let me just say this. I think it’s important that he came,” he said. “And it shows a willingness on his part to change. And I like that, and I think that that is important.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden also attended the service.
Afterward, the Democratic hopefuls, joined by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg, marched across the bridge.
It’s not clear what the congregants were protesting, but Bloomberg has been heavily criticized for using the stop-and-frisk police tactic while mayor.
He has apologized for defending the practice.
Alabama is among the 14 states going to the polls for Super Tuesday, the first contests where Bloomberg is on the ballot.
With Post wires
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