Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy’s town hall on Wednesday got off to a raucous start when state chaplain Michael Sprague opened the meeting with a prayer.

Many in the crowd rejected the invocation, shouting, “Separation of church and state!” Others stood up and turned their backs, waving upside down American flags. The prayer was peppered with screamed commentary from the angry mob who were especially incensed that the senator was a half hour late to the town hall. The loudest uproar came as Sprague ended the prayer “in Jesus’s name.” 

It was apparent the protesters weren’t there to discuss, but only to shout their displeasure with Cassidy. He prepared a Power Point presentation but this crowd wasn’t interested. They wanted answers; they wanted to mock; they wanted to complain. Cassidy abruptly stopped his presentation because the noise didn’t allow him to continue. But the Q&A session was more of the same.

There were signs noting the $70,000 donation Cassidy received from now Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos for his campaign. Protesters shouted, “Sellout!” and “Who bought you?” Cassidy reminded them that he supports school choice, as does DeVos; that’s why she supported him.

In the 2014 election, Cassidy beat out the incumbent Democrat in Louisiana in a 57-43 upset. The people of the state voted for him and his policies. He held the same positions then as he does now. This should be no surprise.

But this is just the latest in the contentious town halls occurring around the nation, of which many claim are padded with paid activists to do one thing: shut them down.

Here's footage of the entire event: