Scores of Kavanaugh protesters arrested after descending on Senate building

By Morgan Chalfant and Melanie Zanona - 10/04/18 04:49 PM EDT
 
More than 300 people were taken into custody by police on Capitol Hill after descending on a pair of Senate office buildings Thursday afternoon to protest the confirmation process of Brett Kavanaugh, President TrumpDonald John TrumpMulvaney: 'We've overreacted a little bit' to coronavirus Former CBS News president: Most major cable news outlets 'unrelentingly liberal' in 'fear and loathing' of Trump An old man like me should be made more vulnerable to death by COVID-19 MORE's Supreme Court nominee.
 
The vast majority of the arrests, 293, were a result of protests in the Hart Senate Office Building, where protesters crowded in the atrium. Loud chants could be heard throughout the building, which is structured so the hallways of each floor open up and look out onto the first floor.
 
Those arrested in Hart were charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding, according to Capitol Police. Another nine people were arrested on the fourth floor of Dirksen Senate Office Building and charged with unlawful demonstrations.
 
Kavanaugh's nomination has been embroiled in controversy since Christine Blasey Ford, a college professor from California, accused him of sexually assaulting her when the two were in high school more than three decades ago. Two women have since come forward with their own sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh, all of which he has denied.
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On Thursday, dozens of demonstrators, mostly women, chanted in protest of Kavanaugh's nomination, with many of them eventually escorted out by police. The protestors started at the nearby E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse in the early afternoon and marched over to the Supreme Court, before making their way to the Senate office building.
 
"The individuals arrested are being processed on site and released. At this time, we are unable to confirm the names of those arrested due to the large number being processed," Capitol Police said in announcing charges against the 302 people.
 
The demonstrations inspired loud cheers from onlookers on various floors of the building, some of them appearing to be protesters themselves. Hundreds of people could be seen on the first level and in the hallways of several floors throughout the building. 
 
Police were present throughout the building. On the second level where senators on the Senate Intelligence Committee were holding a regular closed-door briefing, several police officers began clearing the hallway of protesters about 3:45 p.m., as various senators exited. They warned protesters that they would be arrested if they did not exit the hallway.
 
Protesters wore T-shirts with phrases like "believe women" and "love over war." They held signs that said "unfit to serve," "sham process, sham court," and "make integrity great again."
 
Some chants included "Whose Senate? Our Senate!" and "Kava-NO." 
 
Several individuals were escorted out by police just after 4 p.m., but many protesters remained and continued to shout chants in protest of Kavanaugh. 
 
The protests wrapped up about 4:30 p.m., while police officers continued to process those under arrest in a nearby park.
 
The arrested protesters were assorted into several different groups before they were taken outside, where they were each given a colored bracelet to wear in place of zip ties or handcuffs.

The groups cheered each other on, with throngs of reporters and camera crews lining the streets to capture the lively scene. Caution tape was used to block off the street where the arrested demonstrators were being held before they were brought to the park for processing.

“Nasty grandmas unite!” one group yelled to another group as they passed each other.

Barbara Schulman, who was arrested by Capitol police, said she was charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding while protesting inside the Hart building.

"There were hundreds of people of the atrium of the Hart building chanting and holding signs and sitting down on the floor and refusing to leave and refusing to be quiet because all of us are united in and refusing to accept that someone who is so dangerous in so many ways and so unfit to get to be on this court has a good chance of being approved to be on the court," she told The Hill.

Mason Hickman was also arrested - the second time in two weeks during the Kavanaugh protests.

"I am a fourth-year college student and intern at Planned Parenthood — I'm also a survivor of sexual assault," Hickman said. "The whole Kavanaugh thing is just really upsetting to see and so we came down here to see what we could do and to make our voices heard."

– Juliegrace Brufke contributed to this report, which was updated at 6:30 p.m.

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