Debt Ceiling Protesters Removed from House Gallery, Arrested

Flickr/@Jcolman
Ray Gustini 704 Views Aug 1, 2011

Capitol Police officers apparently had to step in this afternoon and remove a handful of chanting, sign-waving debt deciling protesters from the House gallery this afternoon, according to multiple accounts of the incident.

The Washington Post's Felicia Sonmez tweets that "about a dozen" people seated in the House gallery chanting "Boehner, get off it, it's time to tax corporate profits" were ejected by police. National Review's Robert Costa adds that the "anti-Boehner" crowd began shoving and pushing the Capitol police attempting to remove them. During the fracas, according to Somnez, "one of the protesters took a tumble--or maybe dove" over a row of seats when a cop yanked at one of the banners the group was holding, prompting someone to yell, "We have an injury!"

According to a tweet from Fox News Congressional reporter Chad Pergram, Capitol Hill police are saying that 22 people were arrested in the incident and have been charged with disrupting Congress.

 

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at rgustini at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

Related Articles   More by Ray Gustini

Obama: Both Parties Responsible For Economy

The Rules for Playing Chicken with Debt Default

The Democrats' Perpetual Pivot to Jobs

 

Times of London Drops Paywall for Queen; Book of Mormon Stolen

Katie Couric, Snooki Knocker; Lil Wayne Isn't Getting Comped

Elsewhere on the Web

User Comments

Please type your comment and click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be prompted to log in or register

  • The Atlantic Wire on Twitter
  • The Atlantic Wire RSS Feed
  • The Atlantic Wire iPhone App