Imagine feeling the force of an NFL linebacker and defensive end tackling you, well that’s what one protester felt during a Monday night football game.
On October 3, the Rams and 49ers were playing at Levi’s Stadium. At the end of the first half of the game, a protester ran onto the field with a pink flare which halted the play.
Stewards were trying to stop him but ultimately couldn’t catch him. The protester made the mistake of running to the Rams defensive bench.
Takkarist McKinley tried to grab ahold of him but Bobby Wagner took him down. The 32-year-old male protester was escorted off of the field by security.
“He looked like he wasn’t supposed to be on the field, I saw security was having a little problem so I helped him out,” linebacker and defensive end, Bobby Wagner said.
There had been another protester trying to get on the field to disturb the game but was stopped early on.
The question is what are these people protesting about at a football game? Well, they were protesting for an animal rights group named Direct Action Everywhere. This group took full responsibility for their actions. The protester was trying to raise awareness to Right to Rescue.
Right to Rescue, an affiliate organization that looks to “help the whistleblowers facing prison time for exposing factory farm abuses and rescuing suffering animals,” CNN reports.
The two protesters were later released and Direct Action Everywhere posted a picture of the two activists on Twitter. The picture said they were “a bit beaten up but in good spirits.” The man that had run onto the field was said to have a burn on his arm, probably from the pink flare.
By the end of all of this chaos during Monday night football, the 49ers went on to beat the Rams 24-9. Which allowed them to move to 2-2 on the season. Yet the Loss for the Rams drops the defending champions to 2-2 on the year.