A Massachusetts mayor has been caught on camera making an obscene gesture as he left a tense negotiation meeting with striking teachers.
Gloucester Mayor Greg Verga was caught raising his middle finger while driving away from West Parish Elementary School, with protesters chanting ‘shame on you!’ in the background.
Dramatic footage from The Gillnetter, the city’s high school student newspaper, captured the moment Verga raised his middle finger on Thursday night.
The mayor claimed he was driven to the shocking gesture after feeling threatened, telling the public his wife was ‘scared’ and ‘sick to her stomach’ as protesters gathered outside their home.
‘Anyone who knows me knows that this is out of character,’ he said Friday.
The mayor claimed he was driven to the shocking gesture after feeling threatened, telling the public his wife was ‘scared’ and ‘sick to her stomach’ as protesters gathered outside their home
Mayor Greg Verga was caught raising his middle finger while driving away from West Parish Elementary School, with protesters chanting ‘shame on you!’ in the background
Verga insisted the gesture was directed at a specific individual – ‘not the crowd, and certainly not the teachers.’
He said he was flipping off a ‘former public safety official’ who allegedly approached his car window shouting.
‘As I made my way up to the parking lot, a former public safety official approached my car window shouting at me,’ Verga said. ‘At this point, my frustrations got the best of me, and I responded to the nastiness being hurled at me as I was trying to make my way home to my frightened wife.’
‘As an elected official and a public figure, I signed up for this. But my wife and our family did not,’ he said. ‘I never expected to fear for the safety of my family in my own home from members of my own community.’
V erga insisted the gesture was directed at a specific individual – ‘not the crowd, and certainly not the teachers’
‘We all need to do better to solve this crisis, and I intend to lead the way,’ Verga said. ‘This is not who we are as a community. Gloucester has always come together in a time of crisis. This is that time.’
Matthew Lewis, Vice President of the Union of Gloucester Educators, condemned the mayor’s behavior as ‘disgusting’ and ‘unbecoming’ of an elected official, as reported by Boston.com.
‘We are disgusted by this obscene gesture made by the elected official who was supposed to represent this city,’ Lewis said in an emailed statement, referring to Verga. ‘We had no issues being outside, and the police were there to make sure that everyone was safe and staying in line.’
‘Parents and students were present and appalled at what they saw,’ Lewis added. ‘Regardless of the intention or direction of the gesture, parents and students were present and appalled at what they saw.’
