The Democratic National Convention opened Monday afternoon in Philadelphia without Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. 
 
 In a brief phone conversation with the Sun Sentinel earlier, she said she wouldn't gavel her party's national convention to order. 
 
 "I have decided that in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note that I am not going to gavel in the convention," Wasserman Schultz said. 
 
 "I stepped down the other day because I wanted to make sure that having brought us to this momentous day and to Philadelphia and planned the convention that is going to be the best one that we've ever had in our party's history that this needs to be all about making sure that everyone knows that Hillary Clinton would make the best president," she said. 
 
 She said she asked Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, secretary of the Democratic National Committee, to take her place opening the proceedings. 
 
 Wasseman Schultz declined to answer further questions. 
 
 The Democrats gather in Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention to officially nominate Hillary Clinton for president. The event begins July 25, 2016, and ends July 28. 
 
 Earlier Monday, mayhem exploded against Wasserman Schultz when she made her first public appearance after being forced out as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. 
 
 Angry Democrats heckled her with boos and cries of "Shame!" as the party tried to move past embarrassing leaked emails that suggested DNC staff favored Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the presidential primaries. 
 
 Wasserman Schultz might have expected a warm embrace at the breakfast of the Florida delegation to the Democratic National Convention. Instead, she found herself hardly able to speak over the boos. 
 
 (Anthony Man) (Anthony Man) 
 
 Some delegates, apparently disappointed Sanders's supporters, jeered and waved signs reading "Thanks for the 'help,' Debbie," and more simply, "E-mail." 
 
 Surrounded by police officers, reporters and the pulsating crowd, Wasserman Schultz plowed through, raising her voice behind the microphone to try to be heard over the din. She started off with a few words about an overnight shooting at a Fort Myers nightclub. 
 
 "People lost their lives — " she began. 
 
 Even then, the protesters continued chanting. Many wore Sanders campaign garb. 
 
 When Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Allison Tant stepped in, asking the angry mob to let Wasserman Schultz speak, someone yelled back, "We didn't have our voices heard!" Wasserman Schultz carried on, defending her five-year party tenure. 
 
 Her Broward County supporters had piled into the ballroom at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, wearing white "Re-elect Debbie Wasserman Schultz" T-shirts. But while they and other Wasserman Schultz fans attempted to drown out the hecklers with applause and cries of "Deb-bie!" they were largely unsuccessful. 
 
 "They're not real Democrats," state Sen. Eleanor Sobel of Hollywood said of the protesters. "They were rude, disruptive and obnoxious. They should have stopped screaming and let her speak. 
 
 "I think the Bernie people can't get over that they lost. They're sore losers, so they're picking on Debbie," said Sobel, a Clinton supporter. "Go back to Play-Doh." 
 
 Wasserman Schultz concluded her short remarks at the breakfast on a defiant note. 
 
 "You will see me every day on the campaign trail," she said. 
 
 Security guards escorted her off stage as people swarmed around her. 
 
 "Na na na na, hey hey hey, good-bye," protesters sang. 
 
 This story will be updated. Check back for more information. 
 
 Information from the Associated Press and The Miami Herald was used in this report. ||||| Demonstrators make their way to downtown on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge Monday, July 25, 2016, in Philadelphia, during the first day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (Associated Press) 
 
 Demonstrators make their way to downtown on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge Monday, July 25, 2016, in Philadelphia, during the first day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (Associated Press) 
 
 PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Hundreds of Bernie Sanders supporters marched down Philadelphia's Broad Street in the sweltering heat Monday afternoon just ahead of the opening of the Democratic convention, chanting "Nominate Sanders or lose in November!" and "Hey, hey, ho, ho, the DNC has got to go!" 
 
 The growing crowd of about 600 made its way from City Hall toward the convention site, 4 miles away in south Philadelphia. 
 
 The protests took shape amid a punishing heat wave, with forecasters saying the temperature could hit 97 degrees and feel like 105. Organizers lined up hundreds of spray bottles to keep marchers cool and planned to make tubs of ice and towels available. At least one woman in the crowd was put in an ambulance by stretcher. 
 
 Severe thunderstorms were in the forecast for late afternoon and early evening. 
 
 Although planned for months, the marches came as fissures widened in the party. Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned Sunday as Democratic Party chairwoman over leaked emails suggesting the supposedly neutral Democratic National Committee had played favorites for Hillary Clinton during the primaries. The emails angered many Sanders supporters. 
 
 About 100 Sanders supporters made their way into Philadelphia by marching across the Ben Franklin Bridge from Camden, New Jersey, chanting, "We are the 99 percent." 
 
 Gary Frazier, a Camden resident and organizer with Black Men for Bernie, said the goal is to get the convention to nominate Sanders for president. If that doesn't happen, he said, there will be a push to withdraw Sanders supporters from the Democratic Party. He said a Donald Trump presidency wouldn't be any worse than what's happening now. 
 
 "We want Bernie Sanders, Frazier said. "That's the people's choice. He was robbed of the nomination." 
 
 Among the protesters who started in Camden was Randall David Miller, an autoworker from Detroit who said he has seen many co-workers laid off and his own pay slashed in half over the past decade. He blamed NAFTA and said it is essential to rework all U.S. trade deals. 
 
 "I've suffered so much in Detroit," he said. 
 
 Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross was again on scene of the protests Monday, watching as he did on Sunday as officers directed traffic and kept protesters confined to the sidewalks. 
 
 Ross said that Sunday's marches were "like a scrimmage game" and that while the protests will only get bigger, he was pleased with how respectful the demonstrators have been. 
 
 The four-day convention is being held at the Wells Fargo Center in south Philadelphia, well removed from City Hall and the skyscrapers of Center City. 
 
 By contrast, the Republican convention last week in Cleveland was held in a bustling part of the city. A heavy police presence and fewer than expected protesters helped authorities maintain order. Only about two dozen arrests were made.
– Debbie Wasserman Schultz won't open the Democratic National Convention after all. Following an uproar and lots of booing when the congresswoman addressed Florida delegates Monday morning, Schultz told the Orlando Sun-Sentinel she had changed her mind. She had originally planned to open the DNC despite the fact that she'll be resigning as Democratic National Committee chair at the end of the convention. "I have decided that in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note that I am not going to gavel in the convention," Schultz said. "I stepped down the other day because I wanted to make sure that having brought us to this momentous day and to Philadelphia and planned the convention that is going to be the best one that we've ever had in our party's history that this needs to be all about making sure that everyone knows that Hillary Clinton would make the best president," she continued. In her place, the secretary of the DNC, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, will open the convention at 4pm Monday. The AP reports that, in the wake of the controversy involving leaked emails showing the DNC considered undermining Bernie Sanders' campaign, hundreds of Sanders supporters were marching in Philadelphia Monday despite sweltering temperatures, chanting, "Nominate Sanders or lose in November!" and "Hey, hey, ho, ho, the DNC has got to go!"