A loud group of demonstrators stormed the Tennessee State Capitol on Thursday to protest a vote in the state House to remove three lawmakers for disrupting the state House floor in Nashville last week during protests for stricter gun control measures.
The protesters, gathered both inside and outside the capitol in Nashville, chanted to urge the lawmakers to take action on gun control, as well as vote against expelling the three lawmakers from their positions in the House.
"No more silence, end gun violence," those in attendance chanted. As lawmakers made their way into the chamber, several of the protesters donning March for Our Lives branded clothing chanted, "Free, free, free, free the Tennessee three."
The protest comes after Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Republican, said Wednesday that Democratic state Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson would have their chance for due process when they face expulsion from an overwhelmingly Republican majority for disrupting House floor proceedings to lead protesters in the overhead balcony last Thursday.
TENNESSEE LAWMAKERS LOSE COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS AFTER STORMING STATE CAPITOL
"I want to make sure everybody knows this has nothing to do about the protest outside the House chamber or the protests outside the Capitol," Sexton told Fox News' Bill Hemmer on Wednesday. "This is about these three members' actions on the House floor, how they shut us down, and how they led protests from the House chamber to those [people] in the balcony."
Sexton told Hemmer he will vote in favor of expelling the three Democrats behind the upheaval, arguing their actions rose to a level of misconduct that necessitates removal.
Rep. Jones, responding to Republicans' calls for his expulsion, alleged in a Tuesday tweet it is "morally insane" for his GOP colleagues to respond to the Covenant School shooting by pushing back against his gestures of solidarity with constituents calling for stricter gun control measures.
"What's happening in Tennessee is a clear danger to democracy all across this nation," he wrote.
Sexton fired back against the complaint on Fox News: "He's trying to make this about the protesters. He's trying to make this about what people were protesting about. Their voices were not silenced. This has nothing to do with anything that happened outside the House chamber," he said.
"These three individuals stormed up to the well where you speak from without being recognized, did not display decorum, they disrupted the proceedings where we had to shut down, pulled out a megaphone and started to lead the balcony in protest for the next 30 to 45 minutes."
"Their actions on the House floor rise to the level of expulsion. We cannot allow these types of things to take place in the people's House," he added.
Republicans voted Monday to strip the three lawmakers of their committee assignments, a move to which Jones responded with a separate tweet, writing in part, "We’ll not be intimidated. THE PEOPLE are demanding we act to stop kids from being murdered in school."
Anti-gun protests at the Capitol followed the tragic shooting at Nashville's Covenant School during which 28-year-old transgender gunman Audrey Hale opened fire, killing six inside the building, three of whom were children.
Fox News' Taylor Penley contributed to this article.
