WASHINGTON – Police Thursday arrested abut 150 protesters who staged a sit-inside the Hart Senate Office Building to oppose Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanagh, capping a day of protests in which 4,000 people marched from the federal courthouse where Kavanaugh currently presides to the steps of the Capitol where senators must decide whether to confirm him to the Supreme Court.
Linda Sarsour, 38, a national organizer with the Women’s March, said she brought 30 busloads of protester from New York City for the protest. “A walk that should have taken 10 minutes took about 45 minutes,” she said of the walk from the District Court to the Capitol.
When protesters were arrested on the steps of the Capitol, the crowd moved across the street to the Supreme Court. According to Sarsour, no one was arrested there, though the crowd took up most of the sidewalk and spilled out into the street for a few hours. It is illegal to protest on exterior steps or inside Senate buildings. Protesting is allowed on public sidewalks and plazas.
Around 3 p.m., the protest moved down the sidewalk and into the Hart Senate Office Building where the sit-in and the arrests began.
The sound of chanting echoed throughout the building. People stood on balconies on every floor, shouting support to the protesters below as one-by-one they were arrested by Capitol Police.