2 days ago
About 60 arrested in veterans' protest ahead of Army parade
U.S. Capitol Police arrested about 60 veterans Friday evening during a protest of the appearance of troops in an Saturday's Army celebration in Washington and at immigration protests in Los Angeles.
Capitol Police said the arrests came after a bicycle-rack barrier was pushed down and a police line was 'illegally crossed' while demonstrators ran toward the steps leading to the Capitol Rotunda.
The demonstrators, wearing fatigue clothing, then sat on the steps of the Capitol, behind a sign that read 'Vets Say Military off our Streets.'
The 60 were part of a larger group that had been demonstrating peacefully at the Supreme Court, Capitol Police said.
After they broke away and ran toward the Capitol steps, officers 'began making arrests,' police said.
The protest was organized by two veteran advocacy groups, About Face: Veterans Against the War, and Veterans for Peace, which held a news conference outside the Supreme Court building earlier in the evening.
'We're supposed to have a government with checks and balances, and we have a president who's clearly acting with a disregard for the rule of law and for the Constitution,' said Brittany Ramos DeBarros, the group's organizing director and a veteran of the Army.
Veterans and supporters from around the country were in attendance, including ex-service members as young as 20 and as old as 80, DeBarros said.
'We think that it's important that the nation see that veterans are going to stand up to that, that our loyalty is to the values that this country says that it's about,' DeBarros said.
Jeff Morris, a disabled veteran who relies on the government for disability checks and health care, flew from Melbourne, Florida, to Washington to participate in the news conference and watch the sit-in.
'It makes me proud that these service members have given so much and still willing to stand for what they think is right,' he said.
Capitol Police said that all who were arrested will be charged with unlawful demonstration and crossing a police line. Additional charges for some will include assault on a police officer and resisting arrest, police said.
