http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=CCB158E4-4F76-48A5-A0C0-E5607706F4C8
Raucous protesters who have flooded downtown Washington in recent days took their cries to the Capitol on Tuesday, vowing to shut down congressional work until senators came out and listened to their grievances.
Capitol Police arrested six of the protesters, who were charged with unlawful conduct-demonstrating in a Capitol building, Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said. More than 100 protesters shouted “We are the 99 percent” and “Tax the rich, end the war” starting around 11:30 a.m. inside the Hart Senate Office Building. They waved banners that read “End the War” and “Cure Electile Dysfunction.” Senate staffers were warned by Capitol Police to avoid the building’s atrium.
“We’re occupying this space. We’re occupying D.C.,” said Andreu Honeycutt, 30, of Washington D.C. “The idea is to shut it down.”
They came from several coalitions – Occupy D.C., an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street protests; Stop the Machine, an antiwar group who have been camped out in Freedom Plaza, and Code Pink among the mishmash of protest causes that tried to infiltrate the Hart building.
“We want senators to get the message,” said Judie Hoeppner from Hawaii, who gave her age as “almost 70.” “They’re not interested [in talking to the protesters]. They’re beholden to corporations because they have the money.”
Police officers were spotted escorting protesters away from the atrium, but dozens more were lined up along the balconies at Hart, shouting in tandem with the activists on Hart’s ground floor. Schneider, who was at the scene, said officers “have to stick around to watch and see what happens.” No injuries were reported.
“We can’t take this anymore. We’re done,” said Bruce Berry, 66, of Minneapolis. “We need to let the world know that we are not going to take this anymore. Our government needs to know we’re not going to take this anymore.”
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) was walking to her Hart Building office when she stumbled upon the protests. Her office, she said, wasn’t disrupted because it doesn’t face the building’s atrium, where much of the chanting and yelling were focused.
“I think everybody has the right to protest, as long as they’ve done the right permits and notification and are not disrupting business,” McCaskill told POLITICO. “It depends on how loud the chanting is and whether or not people can still work. But fundamentally everyone has a right to express themselves in this country, and I think it’s great people are taking advantage of that.
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