40 Protesters Taken Into Custody Outside DNC

Police took 40 people into custody outside the Democratic convention Monday evening after several hundred Bernie Sanders supporters and other demonstrators converged in the sweltering heat, chanting "Nominate Sanders or lose in November!" and "Hey, hey, ho, ho, the DNC has got to go!" The marchers set out from City Hall and made their way some 4 miles down Broad Street, gathering near the Wells Fargo Center around the time the convention was gaveled to order, the AP reports. Protesters tried to climb over police barricades at the edge of the security zone surrounding the convention, and police Chief Inspector Joseph Sullivan said 40 people were taken into custody. As tensions mounted, police moved metal fences into place and closed the nearest subway station to arriving trains.

Protesters carried signs that read, "Never Hillary," ''Just Go to Jail Hillary," and "You Lost Me at Hillary." One of the marchers who made their way toward the convention hall, Destine Madu, of Maplewood, New Jersey, said it doesn't matter if Sanders is calling on his backers to support Hillary Clinton. "He's like a Moses," she said. "He led us to the promised land." The protests took shape amid a punishing heat wave, with oppressive humidity and temperatures in the mid-90s, along with the possibility of severe thunderstorms in the evening. The Fire Department handed out bottled water, and a few protesters were treated for heat-related problems. About 100 Sanders supporters made their way into Philadelphia by marching across the Ben Franklin Bridge from Camden, New Jersey. Meanwhile, Sanders got booed by his own delegates. (More Democratic National Convention stories.)