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Gov. Inslee heckled off stage in Tri-Cities appearance

TRI-CITIES, Wash. — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee was heckled and had to cut short his speech on battling the coronavirus pandemic in the Tri-Cities on Tuesday.

Speaking outdoors at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, Inslee was repeatedly interrupted by hecklers as he urged residents to wear masks to prevent the spread of the virus.

”Open it up,” one heckler shouted in an apparent reference to widespread business closures in the Tri-Cities of Richland, Pasco and Kennewick.

The community is still in Stage I of the pandemic, which is largely a shutdown.

The heckling continued as a masked Inslee spoke. Finally the Democratic governor, who used to represent the Tri-Cities in the U.S. House, had had enough and went inside to finish.