Hillary Clinton disrupted by Black Lives Matter protesters during criminal justice speech

Hillary Clinton called today for a shake-up of drug laws in the US which unfairly discriminate against African Americans, but activists have called for the presidential hopeful to make a bolder move.

During a rally at Clark Atlanta University, Mrs Clinton unveiled the specifics of her criminal justice platform for the first time. The Democratic frontrunner maintained that the law should no longer distinguish between crack and powder cocaine when it comes to imprisonment. Her comments have been long awaited by criminal justice activists surrounding the legalisation of drugs and racial profiling by law enforcement.

For nearly 15 minutes, Mrs Clinton was interrupted by Black Lives Matter protests who simply chanted: "Black lives matter."

Mrs Clinton responded by saying, "Yes, they do." However, the demonstrators were escorted from the event and Mrs Clinton apologised to the crowd.

"I'm sorry, I appreciate their passion," she said. "But I'm sorry they didn't listen, because some of what they're demanding, I am offering."

Continuing her speech, Mrs Clinton said that she was "heartbroken" after speaking to a young black woman who said she felt like an outsider in her own country.

“I know very well for many white Americans it is tempting to close our eyes to the truth, to believe that bigotry is largely behind us, that institutionalized racism no longer exists," she said. "But as you know so well, despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, America's long struggle with race is far from finished."

Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of Drugs Policy Action, said he welcomes the move but Mrs Clinton will have to make “much bolder” commitments in the future.

“President Obama took that position [on cocaine] since he first ran against her eight years ago. And even Joe Biden [spoke out] in 2007-08,” he said. Nadelmann said a more "inspiring" move would be to cut the population of federal prisons by 50%.

Earlier this week, Democrat Bernie Sanders called for the possession and use of marijuana to be decriminalised in federal law. He spoke out against racial bias and said a black person is four times as likely to be jailed for possession of the drug as a white person.

Maryland governor Martin O’Malley has also unveiled details on his criminal justice program, but Mrs Clinton is one of the last Democratic Presidential candidates to make her move, although she did speak loudly for criminal justice reform following riots in Baltimore earlier this year.

Prior to Friday's rally, a spokesperson for the Clinton Campaign told the Washington Post that today's comments on policing, incarceration and re-entry into society are just a small part of a full program to be announced in the coming days.

A law from 1986 stipulated that a person convicted of possessing crack cocaine got the same prison sentence as someone holding 100 times the amount of powder cocaine. That ratio decreased to 18:1 under the 2001 Fair Sentencing Act but still has a disproportionate effect on African Americans, say activists.