Wisconsin Protesters Remain in Madison Capitol Building

by Jordan Yerman | February 28, 2011 at 04:58 pm

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Madison, Wisconsin: Demonstrators remain in Capitol Building, Others Prevented from Entering

Demonstrators protesting against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's anti-union bill spent the night in Madison's capitol building. Under the auspices of cleaning the building, the demonstrators were ordered to leave the capitol building. They refused, thinking that, once they were out, they would not be allowed back in. The police refused to remove the protesters, though the Walker administration has indeed locked additional protesters out of the building, despite the fact that it's illegal under Wisconsin law to bar a member of the public from entering the capitol building.

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More than 70,000 demonstrators have made their way to the capitol building as the deadlock over the budget bill continues. Protesters have been occupying the capitol building in Madison for two weeks. Walker threatened 1,500 public-sector layoffs unless his Democrat opponents gave in and returned to Madison.

Across the US, Wisconsin's unions are finding allies, both in support of the Madison protests and against similar anti-union action in other states.

Many of the protesters left the building voluntarily on Sunday night, planning to return in the morning. But when they did, they found themselves barred from entering, the first time during the two-week demonstration, they said, that the building was locked during normal business hours. At least a hundred protesters stood outside one entrance, waiting to be let inside.

"I feel they're infringing upon our civil rights and our constitutional rights and I'm not going to allow it, so I figured I'd step up and file a lawsuit on behalf of Defending Wisconsin PAC and myself," said Jeremy Ryan, the organization's executive director.