A group of US protesters were kicked out of rally held by Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump after standing up silently and waving copies of the US Constitution.
The protesters were quickly ejected by campaign staffers on Thursday and drew boos and jeers from about 1,800 Trump supporters who were packed into the Merrill Auditorium in Portland, Maine.
The protest was a reference to Khizr Khan's high-profile condemnation of Trump at the Democratic National Convention last week. During his speech at the convention, Khan asked Trump whether he had read the US Constitution.
Khan, who is the father of a Muslim American soldier killed during the Iraq War, took a copy of the Constitution out of his pocket and offered it to Trump.
During the convention address, Khan also denounced Trump as unpatriotic and selfish over his divisive rhetoric against immigrants and Muslims.
Trump responded later by suggesting that Ghazala Khan, the mother of the fallen soldier, was silent during her husband’s speech at the DNC because she was not “allowed” to speak.
Trump's rally in Portland drew at least five other interruptions, including two people who tried to disrupt his speech with chants accusing him of being a racist.
On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama issued a sharp criticism of Trump, calling him “unfit” to be president.
Obama has endorsed the Democratic nominee and his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.
A Gallup poll released early last month found that Trump and Clinton are among the worst-rated presidential candidates of the last 70 years.