Bernie Sanders Protesters Set Off Secret Service Swoop in Oakland

Bernie Sanders was beset by protesters during an Oakland rally on Monday evening, causing Secret Service agents to swarm around him.

According to CNN, the protesters, reportedly from the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere, were soon led offstage at the Frank Ogawa Plaza by Secret Service.

Immediately after the disturbance, Sanders continued his speech to an audience of roughly 20,000 people that KNTV reported was mostly peaceful.

"We don't get intimidated easily," Sanders said afterward.

The television station reported that it appeared that a Secret Service agent hit one of the protesters jumping the barricade several times with a night stick. Zachary Groff, from Direct Action Everywhere, identified that person as Matt Johnson, who was detained with Ashley Johnson, Rebecca Muniz, Aidan Cook, and Amy Halpern-Laff, wrote KNTV.

"Activists do not protest at Bernie Sanders rallies in opposition to Sanders himself, but rather to pull Sanders in their direction," the group said in a statement. "Sanders' opponent Hillary Clinton recently released a campaign platform on animal issues, although it stops far short of what activists would like to see."

"Activists expect Bernie Sanders, the progressive candidate, to support more radical action to provide animals not just with improved conditions but with legal rights to be free from harm," the statement continued, according to CNN.

It was not the first time the group disrupted a Sanders rally.

Direct Action Everywhere protesters were booed in March during a Wisconsin Sanders rally when they held up a large "Animal Liberation Now" sign during an event, an ABC News reporter stated, according to The Hill.

Security removed the protesters and pulled the sign down as Sanders continued to address the crowd. The newspaper said that Sanders declined to acknowledge the protesters at the time.

Sanders is in a heated battled with Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton ahead of the California primary. California Gov. Jerry Brown threw his support behind Clinton in a statement on Tuesday.

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