Protesters interrupt Trump-parody play: ‘Blood of Steve Scalise is on your hands’

Protesters disrupted a Shakespeare production in Central Park on Friday night shouting, “The blood of Steve Scalise is on your hands!” and “Stop leftist violence,” according to reports.

A woman identifying herself on social media as Laura Loomer jumped on stage shouting, “Stop the normalization of political violence against the right,” and, “This is violence against Donald Trump.” 

Fellow protestor Jack Posobiec, who taped her from the audience, then shouted, “You are all Goebbles,” referring to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

Loomer was arrested following the incident when she refused to leave the scene, The New York Times reported. She posted video of her protest on Twitter. 

BREAKING: Julius Ceasar Gets SHUTDOWN pic.twitter.com/ITgfMR0tHE

— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) June 17, 2017

Julia Caesar meets Laura Loomer https://t.co/THlerwmODp

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) June 17, 2017

The interruption follows multiple politicians blaming violent rhetoric for a shooting in Virginia this week that left Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) in the hospital with a gunshot wound. 

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Republicans such as former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. point at the play an example of hostility toward the right because it portrayed Julius Caesar, who is murdered in William Shakespeare’s play, as a man in a suit with an American flag pin, long tie and blondish hair that looked like President Trump.

The production paused briefly for the protest. The play is a free Public Theater performance running until Sunday. The theater tweeted the protest was “part of a paid strategy driven by social media.” 

“The staff removed the protesters peacefully, and the show resumed with the line ‘Liberty! Freedom!’ The audience rose to their feet to thank the actors, and we joyfully continued. Free speech for all, but let’s not stop the show,” Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the Public Theater and the director of the “Julius Caesar” production, said in a statement to the Times.

-This post was updated at 7:18 a.m.