Wien flight ceremony crashed by anti-Israel gaggle led by Fairbanks presiding officer Savannah Fletcher

In Fairbanks on Tuesday, a celebration of the accomplishments of legendary aviation pioneer Noel Wien was marred by a small-but-loud group of anti-Israel protesters.

Among the protesters was Savannah Fletcher, the radical presiding officer of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly. She is a former mayoral candidate who is now running for Alaska Senate Seat R, which represents the western Fairbanks North Star Borough and a huge swath of rural communities in Interior Alaska.

Fletcher’s protesters shouted, “Free Palestine!” Fletcher appeared to have been one of the organizers of the group and the most well-recognized of a half-dozen. She had a child on her hip during the loud demonstration.

The anniversary event was celebrating the centennial of the historic flight made by Wien from Anchorage to Fairbanks in a biplane. His feat was accomplished in 1924, a summer of many “firsts” by Wien, who brought his biplane to Alaska by boat and reassembled it to launch the era of flying.

As Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Sen. Dan Sullivan, and other leaders spoke, the shouting of pro-Hamas protesters at times made it hard for those in the back to hear the speakers assembled on a stage at Pike’s Landing. The protesters were quieter when Sen. Lisa Murkowski spoke, but louder when Sen. Dan Sullivan was at the microphone. In this brief clip, you can hear the protesters shouting as former Rep. Jay Ramras introduced Richard Wien, the son of the late famed aviator.

A couple of hundred of people attended the celebration of flight history, which was not covered by the mainstream media. The governor, lieutenant governor, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Sen. Dan Sullivan, Richard and Sally Wien, several legislators, Borough Assemblywoman Barbara Haney, former Sen. John Coghill and former Alaska Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich, and former Rep. Dick Randolph.

The protest was similar to that which occurring during the July 1 swearing-in ceremony of Mayor Suzanne LaFrance in Anchorage, an event that was marred by protesters shouting nearby while people were gathered at Town Square in downtown Anchorage. As covered by the Alaska Landmine, neither Mayor LaFrance nor the police took action to move the protesters away so that people could hear the speakers, who were being drowned out by the loud bullhorn of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which was staging the disruption.

That disruption was barely mentioned in the Anchorage Daily News coverage of the inauguration, although it was perhaps the most interesting feature of the event.