'Dictatorship': Families freak out after MTG protesters are tased and jailed

A chaotic town hall for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on Tuesday ended in the arrests of two men — who were tased by local police — and a woman arrested on a "vulgar language" charge, all spending the night in jail, a protest organizer told Raw Story.

Andrew Russell Nelms, 40, and Johnny Keith Williams, 45, were arrested at Greene's town hall at the Acworth Community Center in Acworth, Georgia, on Tuesday, on two charges — simple battery of a law enforcement officer and obstruction of a law enforcement officer — and Kiyana Davis, 28, was arrested on a city ordinance charge for "vulgar language," according to a news release published by the Acworth Police Department.

All three were constituents who registered to attend the town hall and were not affiliated with the protest organized by the Cobb County Democratic Party, Essence Johnson, chair of the Cobb County Democratic Party, told Raw Story. Williams remained in jail as of Wednesday at 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Johnson said.

"Kiyana should have never, never spent the night in jail with the type of charges, the nonfactual charges, the inaccurate charges, the fictitious charges, that are brought up, the unlawful arrest," Johnson told Raw Story. "That's a ticket. She should have gotten a citation and released."

Mark Cheatham, chief of police for the Acworth Police Department, did not respond to Raw Story's questions about the arrests.

"Sadly, as soon as the Congresswoman began her presentation, several members of the audience became disruptive and created an imminent public safety threat for all in attendance. Their intentions were clear, to place the members of our beloved police department in a no-win situation in front of numerous media outlets," police said in the news release.

Six other attendees were removed without incident, but tasers were required to be deployed in the process of arresting Williams and Nelms as police were "threatened, physically resisted, and harmed in the process," the release said.

Greene posted a video and statement on X on Wednesday morning that voiced her "100% support of our heroic police officers" and said video footage "proves the protestors were unruly and fighting and resisting police."

"These protestors were deranged and aggressive and lost control of themselves the second the townhall started," Greene posted.

Nick Dyer, Greene's spokesperson, did not immediately respond to Raw Story's questions about the town hall.

"We have seen her disrupt. State of the Union, President Biden, disruption. Disrespect," Johnson said. "They didn’t disrespect her. Mr. Williams was walking out, tasered. Andrew, tasered. Kiyana, a curse word."

Johnson said the families of the arrested individuals reached out via the Cobb County Democrats' Facebook page, and she spent the last 18 hours in "constant communication" with the families who are "distraught."

"[Greene] is everything that an elected official should not be, and she showed her true colors like we've seen it over and over again," Johnson said. "But yesterday, to actually witness that firsthand and to see how people were treated, I am coming for your seat. Whoever's going to run again for that seat, the power of the Democratic Party and the power of those in CD14, we are coming for your seat."

Shawn Harris and Clarence Blalock competed in a June 2024 Democratic runoff to challenge Greene for her congressional seat, and both attended the protest outside of Greene's town hall on Tuesday, which had more than 200 attendees, Johnson said.

"Energy was very high, and the energy was also very peaceful," said Harris of the protest held across the street from the community center. "The only place that it was some issues was actually inside with Marjorie."

Blalock said security was "very strict" outside the town hall, but the "vibes were good" at the protest. Blalock estimated that 30 to 40 police cars were present, in addition to police on horses. He only witnessed police give a ticket to a man driving a van who was laying on his horn outside of the town hall.

Blalock already announced that he is planning to run in 2026 as a Democrat for the seat in Georgia's 14th Congressional District. When asked if he plans to run again, Harris said he hasn't made an official announcement, but told Raw Story, "I think so." Greene beat Harris with 64.4 percent of the vote in November.

Greene posted a video on X the morning before the town hall that confirmed attendees needed to be registered in advance, bring their IDs and questions were to be submitted in advance.

Greene historically has screened questions for her town halls ahead of time given the number of people who attend the events, Dyer told Raw Story last year.

“She goes through personally all of them unless they're offensive,” Dyer told Raw Story in June.

Greene also does not share the address of her town halls publicly due to security concerns, Dyer previously told Raw Story.

“Due to her popularity, we have people RSVP so we can get constituents in the door. That is critical for the town halls. They are meant specifically for constituents,” Dyer said. “We have people that would travel from hours away to attend a town hall. We do that explicitly to ensure that only constituents are in the location. Due to the security concerns, we only give verified constituents the address to those town halls.”

Some of Greene's constituents take issue with her decision not to allow live questions from attendees.

"To be told to be seen but not heard, that was not a town hall. That was a straight dictatorship," Johnson said. "A town hall, it's a communication. It's a conversation. It’s answering questions. She spoke at the people. That is not someone that's elected."

In her post prior to the town hall, Greene claimed "paid Democrat protestors" would be coming from throughout the country.

"I have one word of warning for you. If you’re planning to act up, scream and protest, you’re going to be thrown out, and that’s the way it goes," Greene said in a video posted to her X account on Tuesday morning.

Blalock said protestors came from throughout the district, including "pretty far away" Catoosa County, which touches the Tennessee border.

"I'm glad that people came out to it," Blalock told Raw Story. "It's just disgusting how they say, 'Oh, you're a paid protester,' as if everyone is happy with the direction of this country. Trump didn't get 50 percent of the vote. He doesn't have a mandate. He doesn't have a right to be a king."

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