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Michigan congressional candidate arrested during 'Fight for $15' rally in Detroit

Posted at 2:27 PM, Oct 02, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-03 08:09:29-04

DETROIT — Rashida Tlaib, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Detroit, and former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed were among those arrested during a "Fight for $15" rally in Detroit on Tuesday afternoon.

Hundreds of fast food workers gathered in Detroit and earlier in the day in Flint demanding to be paid at least $15 an hour for their work.

Tlaib,who will likely be the first Muslim-American woman in Congress when the term begins in 2019 as she is currently running unopposed, was among more than a dozen people who were arrested at the rally. Some were loaded into a Detroit police bus, including El-Sayed. 

The strike comes just one day before a nationwide walkout by fast food workers demanding union rights from employers in battleground states across the country.

Six protestors were hit by a truck in Flint earlier Tuesday morning, but it's believed the crash was an accident and the driver was "pretty shaken up" afterward, according to Flint's police chief.