Greeted by a rope barrier and scowling security guards, about 150 raucous Democratic protesters gathered Wednesday afternoon in front of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in Washington, D.C. to challenge the Committee’s decision to limit Democratic candidates to six debates and punish those who participate in any additional debates.

“I want to thank the Democratic National Committee, under chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, for putting up a barrier preventing Democrats from getting into the DNC headquarters,” said organizer Ben Dornberg, prompting a chorus of boos from the assembled protesters. “It is a perfect symbol of the way that DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz has completely ignored the thousands of e-mails and phone calls, and over a quarter-million petitions, from real Democrats who are demanding to get to know the people that are running to lead this country.”

With all eyes on the GOP debate Wednesday evening, Dornberg’s organization, Allow Debate, sought to throw the spotlight back on Wasserman Schultz by accusing her of protecting Hillary Clinton and allowing Republicans to overshadow the Democratic Party’s message. The group is affiliated with former Maryland governor and current presidential candidate Martin O’Malley, who kicked off the controversy with a fiery speech demanding more debates during the DNC’s summer meeting in Minneapolis last month.

Under Wasserman Schultz, the DNC is forcing all Democratic candidates to participate in just six officially sanctioned presidential debates — only two of which are to be held after next year’s Iowa caucus. If any candidate were to participate in a debate not blessed by the DNC, he’d face immediate exclusion from all remaining debates in the cycle. O’Malley and other dissidents say the chairwoman’s rule effectively amounts to “rigging” the debate process in favor of the Democratic front-runner, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Though two DNC vice-chairs reversed course last week and called for more official debates, Wasserman Schultz still refuses to budge.

RELATED: Amid DNC Revolt Against ‘Rigged’ Debate Schedule, Debbie Wasserman Schultz Holds Firm

“We want debate, not GOP hate!” protesters chanted, waving signs and cheering while a few security guards in white paced nervously back and forth behind rope barriers blocking off the entrance to the DNC headquarters.

#share#Lis Smith, a spokeswoman for the O’Malley campaign, says the DNC tried to tamp down the protest before it began. “They communicated to us that they were displeased with the fact that we were doing this, yes,” she tells National Review. “They sent us messages to that effect.”

While O’Malley supporters were out in force, the small-but-feisty group also included a number of Bernie Sanders supporters, who appeared just as angry at Wasserman Schultz.

“She’s saying the entire Democratic Party doesn’t matter because she’s in charge,” says Fred, who supports the independent Vermont senator’s presidential bid. “She doesn’t get to do that within a party whose name invokes democracy.”

— Brendan Bordelon is a political reporter for National Review.