Protesters disrupted former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s book talk in D.C. Thursday, saying he should not give proceeds from the sale of his new book to police.

McAuliffe gave the talk at Politics and Prose on Connecticut Avenue about his new book “Beyond Charlottesville: Taking a Stand Against White Nationalism.” It focuses on the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. McAuliffe has promised to donate the proceeds to the Virginia State Police Association fund, and to a foundation set up in memory of Heather Heyer, who was killed at the rally while protesting white supremacy.

Four people who said they were among those protesting racism at the rally where Heyer was killed spoke up. They took issue with McAuliffe’s positive characterization of police actions that day.

Other event attendees captured the incident on video. At times, the 20-minute exchange, which begins at the 35-minute mark, became heated. Members of the crowd urged the bookstore’s moderator to move on to other questions, but the protesters took over the event. At one point, a protester moved toward McAuliffe airing her concerns and then chanted, “Cops and the Klan go hand in hand.”

After a few minutes, police escorted protesters outside. McAuliffe stayed to sign books.

This is not the first time in recent months that protesters have interrupted a book talk at Politics and Prose, which has had to train its staff on how to handle such disruptions. Protesters shouted Janet Napolitano down in March, and a group of white nationalists marched into a book talk in April.

During the first half of the event, McAuliffe discussed the events in Charlottesville. Heather Heyer was killed when avowed neo-Nazi James Fields rammed a car into the crowd of counter-protesters. Fields has been given two life sentences for his actions. Two state police officers, Berke Bates and Jay Cullen, whom McAuliffe knew, were also killed when a police helicopter crashed while doing surveillance.

One protester, Constance Paige Young, said she was injured in the attack that killed Heyer. Young said she was in pain and the police refused to help her.

“You’re using this book as a means to raise money for a contingent of people who contributed to terrorizing antiracist activists,” Young said during the Q&A. “Please explain to me why you believe it’s appropriate to raise money for the very people who fail to keep us safe, and contributed to terrorizing us that day.”

McAuliffe, who was not in Charlottesville the day of the rally, said he was not aware of police behaving that way.

“I cannot speak to specific acts of what the police were doing or how they were doing it,” McAuliffe said. “Our goal was to try and do everything we possibly could keep people safe.”

An independent investigation into the events found the preparation and response was inadequate and blamed the Charlottesville Police Department in addition to Virginia State Police.

Protesters asked McAuliffe to put the book tour on hold to meet with survivors, as well as to donate proceeds and personal money to the Heal Charlottesville victim fund. They also called on him to “stop using black folks as political currency” and “stop denying white supremacists are in the police force and government.”

one severely injured survivor of the white supremacist terrorist attack @TerryMcAuliffe is capitalizing on will issue the following statement at tonight’s event: pic.twitter.com/xqCBJrRh9u

— molly conger (@socialistdogmom) August 1, 2019

McAuliffe told his scheduler to set up a meeting. He also said he would donate to the victim fund.

But he disagreed with the request to not donate to a police fund and he defended the two officers who died that day in a helicopter crash.

“The two people who lost lives were heroes… I can’t speak for other 950 [state police officers who were on the scene]. But these people lost their lives in a helicopter out there doing surveillance, I’m sorry, I’m gonna stand by them every single day,” McAuliffe said.

Another woman, who did not give her name, said both of her legs were broken in the car attack.

“The book was hurtful,” she said. “There’s a lot of things that we need to explain to you, as a white man, when you say that [phrases the white supremacists were saying] were surprising to you, it’s because you have the luxury of it being surprising to you. You have privilege.”

Anna Malinowski criticized McAuliffe for not creating a fund to help victims of the attack while he was governor. Many still have large medical bills, she said.

“I’d be glad to help the survivors, too,” McAuliffe said.

Previously:
White Nationalists Interrupt Book Talk At Politics And Prose

This story originally appeared on WAMU.