A protester rushed the stage and ripped the mic out of Kamala Harris' hand at a San Francisco forum

Reuters

A protester grabbed the microphone from Sen. Kamala Harris on Saturday.

• An animal-rights protester rushed the stage to grab the microphone from Sen. Kamala Harris at a San Francisco event on Saturday.
• The incident happened at MoveOn's "Big Ideas Forum," and the man shouted that he had a "much bigger idea."
• Security guards and Harris' husband immediately leapt onto the stage and dragged the man off.
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A man rushed the stage and ripped a microphone out of Sen. Kamala Harris' hand at a San Francisco presidential forum on Saturday, interrupting the Democratic presidential candidate to tell the audience he had a "much bigger idea."

"I'm asking your attention to a much bigger idea," he said, before the hosts interrupted him and security guards pulled him off the stage and Harris briefly walked away. She later returned to the stage as the audience applauded.

Harris' husband, Douglas Emhoff, could also be seen in videos of the incident jumping onto the stage to pull the man away from Harris.

"Thank you so much, sir, for your big idea," one of the moderators said as the man was escorted out. "But we want to make sure that we are able to get through this."

Emhoff later tweeted about the incident, thanking supporters for their "kind notes."

"We are good. I love @KamalaHarris and would do anything for her," he said.

Read more: Kamala Harris swipes at Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden, saying he 'would be a great running mate'

The incident happened at MoveOn's "Big Ideas Forum" while Harris was discussing the gender pay gap.

The man was later identified by news outlets as a member of the animal-rights group, Direct Action Everywhere.

A press release from the organization said the man interrupted Harris to call on her to "support ordinary citizens rescuing animals rather than the factory farms that abuse animals, sicken local populations and repress whistleblowing activity."

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