COLUMBIA, Mo. – After a student organized a protest last Friday evening at the University of Missouri campus, an individual named Tyler solicited on Craigslist, a popular online classified site, for paid protesters.
The protest was planned for Monday evening in front of the Columbia City Hall, where protesters were to be compensated $15/hour. Protesters were told to “dress to impress” and “expect to be there for at least 10 hours.”
The ad reads as follows:
The Monday protest did not gain any media attention. Protests can regularly be seen at the Columbia City Hall.
Tyler’s post is one in a series of pop-up protests offering compensation – some up to $18/hour.
The Show Me State overwhelmingly contributed their electoral votes to Trump last week by a 19-point margin or by over 500,000 votes. Trump also polled strongly in the Columbia media market leading up to the election. Boone County, where Columbia is the county seat, preferred Hillary Clinton by a 6-point margin.
Missouri Times reader former Speaker Tim Jones submitted the following picture of the protest.
The Missouri Times has reached out to Tyler, but is yet to hear back.
Rachael Herndon was the editor at The Missouri Times and also produced This Week in Missouri Politics, published Missouri Times Magazine, and co-hosted the #MoLeg podcast. She joined The Missouri Times in 2014, returning to political reporting after working as a campaign and legislative staffer.
Rachael studied at the University of Missouri – Columbia. She lives in Jefferson City with her husband, Brandon, and their two children.
