ADAPT ARRESTS AT McCAIN OFFICE
Day 2—-
8:30 PM - Now that it is dark, the arrests begin in earnest. The 30 remaining protesters in John McCain’s office have been arrested. About 100 protesters at the Republic National Committee office are also being arrested. None of the protesters have been allowed to use the bathrooms or permitted to order food in from the outside.
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Wheelchair Protest Forces Republican National Committee Building Lockdown
Tuesday, April 29; 3:02 p.m. http://www.rollcall.com/
About 100 protesters have gathered at Republican National Committee headquarters on First Street Southeast, forcing police to put the building on lockdown.
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Also Senator John McCain’s office surrounded. Arrest began about 3:30. By 4:30 at least 75 arrested. 30 activists remain inside his office. The activists were trying to get John McCain to commit to signing the Community Choice Care Act if elected. Both other presidential hopefuls have said they would. As of 7:30PM he has made no commitment.
Read more (many are the same AP story): http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/2008/04/29/protest-at-mccains-senate-office-leads-to-arrest-of-dozens/
http://www.democrats.org/a/2008/04/advocates_for_t.php
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=4751606
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=116&sid=1395548
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080429/ap_on_go_co/medicaid_protest_1
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/04/29/disabled-activists-arrested-at-mccains-office/
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102×3289438
Susan responds:
Posted: April 29th, 2008 at 8:13 pm →
AARON GRAVES AGE 12 FIRST TIME
IT WAS A WAS WILD
THE PEOPLE WERE WILD AND THE COPS WERE CRAZY
THE POLICE DID NO WANT TO THE PEOPLE TO CROSS THE STREET
CHAIRS WERE JAMMED TOGETHER
POLICE WERE SHOWING A THAT I HAVE NEVER SEEN THEY WERE WORRIED ABOUT PEOPLE IN WHEEL CHAIRS CAUSING TROUBLE
Susan responds:
Posted: April 29th, 2008 at 8:46 pm →
JOE PARTANSKY, CONCORD,CALIF.
TOO “SICK” FOR ACTION TODAY AT MCCAIN AND REPUBLICAN HDQ, BUT I WENT OVER TO RAYBRUN BLDG AND GOT AN APPOINTMENT WITH MY CONGRESSMAN GEORGE MILLER, WHO CHAIRS THE HOUSE EDUC. & LABOR COMMITTEE. IF ANYONE WANTS TO GO WITH ME FOR A WEDNESDAY 1 P.M. MEETING WITH THOMAS P. WEBB, KENNEDY DISABILITY POLICY FELLOW PLEASE GIVE ME A CALL BEFORE 8 A.M. AT MY TOKAMA HILLTOP HOSTEL (202) 291-9591 OR MEET ME IN LOBBY AT 12:15P.M. (ADAPT HOTEL) AND WE’LL WALK OR ROLL OVER.
LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU.
MOST ADA/PWD LEGISLATION GOES THROUGH CONGRESSMAN MILLER’S
COMMITTEE AND SUBCOMMITTEE, E.G. HR 3195 : THE ADA RESTORATION ACT OF 2007 (SEE HTTP://EDLABOR.HOUSE.GOV/HEARINGS/FC-2008-01-29.SHTML
YOUR ARE INTERESTED MY TAKE HOW WE CAN GET EVERY COMMUNITY,
“TITLE II OF ADA” ENITY WITH AN “ADA COORDINATOR AND A NOTICED
GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES” OR WOULD LIKE TO SHARE YOUR SUCCESSES PLEASE E-MAIL ME
JOSEPH V.A. “JOE” PARTANSKY, M.B.A.
P.O. BOX 543
CONCORD, CA 94522
HM. 925-425-0272
ACCESSJOEP@YAHOO.COM
Susan responds:
Posted: April 29th, 2008 at 9:57 pm →
Tom Pugh: Today I went with a group to the office of the presidential hopeful John McCain. We were there to let him know how we feel about the Community Choice Act. And we took over McCain’s office and had about 4 wheelchairs deep in front of the door. I was right against the door along with a petite little Deaf woman named Amber. She was pinned against the wall between my and another wheelchair. Amber had the megaphone and was loudly using our chants and helping everyone else follow along. The police began to ask us to quiet down and they particularly went after Amber. With Amber being Deaf she didn’t realize they were speaking to her. And I believe the police assumed that Amber was AB and continued to yell at her. She wasn’t facing them and didn’t know they were speaking to her. Finally two officers and grabbed her by opposite arms, picked her up over our chairs, threw her to the floor, handcuffed her, and began to ask her questions when she was face down. Finally I and others told the officers that she was Deaf and unless they turned her around so she could she their faces she wouldn’t be able to respond. Several of the officers seemed to ignore us, but finally one officer off to the side heard us and came over and told them to let her up. And then he spoke to her. She was one of the first arrested. Eventually 35 or so of us were arrested and joined Amber. We were held for a few hours, given a court date, and released.
Susan responds:
Posted: April 29th, 2008 at 10:37 pm →
D.H: it wAS crazy and it went to hell
JC: What a great day. It isn’t often we get to take on an evil beast such as the Republican National Headquarters. Great villains make for great drama. What better villain than the RNC and John McCain. At the end of the day the villian blinked. The Democratic National Party put our action on their web site and I believe embarassed the RNC to where they didn’t want to arrest a bunch of folks with disabilities. They didn’t want to be seen as caving in to us, but they didn’t dare go the distance with us eithjghger. Kind of a draw, but they know we are serious about passing the Community Choices Act and they can bet we will be back next year!
Ian Engle: We went to the National Governor’s Association in the morning and rallied there; then we went over to the Capitol Hill Club where we blocked the doors and driveways and stayed until after 10 p.m. Another group of us went over to Senator John McCain’s office and ‘took over’ chanting and blocking exits, 75 people were arrested there, but none of those who were actually in his office were arrested (only those who were in the hall). McCain wouldn’t even agree to meet with us, but we definitely made our presence known and garnered some decent press coverage.
Susan responds:
Posted: April 29th, 2008 at 10:54 pm →
LB Smith: My day started out like the day before with another flat tire. So after we fixed the flat - my friend Dave and I we got sidetracked up the hill. SO we walked looking for right directions - so we walked way up the hill and back down. We went out of out way. We did manage to make out way back to the capital - in time for the action. I joined the right color group - blue- my team. We just started blocking McCain’s office. We were chanting all day. Blocking entrances to the building. 21 people were arrested - including my friend Larry. And the I went to the GOP building - they were trying to arrest the people who were protesting next to us. We had all the entrances blocked all around. They could get out through through the underground tunnel. I made the mistake of going to Mexican restaurant - my team got upset at me. They said it was a very AB thing to do. Some of the leaders chewed me out. They were out there protesting and I was drinking and beer and eaitng 50¢ tacos. I ran into the black team like I did the day before - so I hung out with them a while - and then I went back to my blue team. And cops escorted us back to the hotel. We went single file, and the cops wanted us to go in a while. Finally reluctantly we accommodated them.
Susan responds:
Posted: April 30th, 2008 at 12:13 am →
Jimmy: I saw the capitol building and I walked into the Smithsonian and I saw my buddy from Baltimore. I like DC. I am honored and proud to be here for the cause, but I still miss Detroit. I am glad things are happening and I hope tomorrow goes well.
Teddy Fitzmaurice: I went to the office if Senator McCain and the Republican Headquarters. And I sing again. John McCain lied. He lied about giving people with disabilities rights. He didn’t say yes to Community Choice Act now. We had a long walk all the way around the building. I saw the capitol very tall with lots of steps. We ate lunch outside. Hamburgers and french fries. I need real food - like pizza. I had fun. Lots of people got arrested. Amber got arrested. I am fine. I not get arrested. My friends watched out for me. I got real hungry.So I leave and get on the bus and go back to the hotel and find my mom.
Disabled in the Digital Age » Blog Archive » Behind the scenes responds:
Posted: May 15th, 2008 at 6:47 pm →
[…] Behind the scenes May 15, 2008 6:44 pm jennfree mobility impaired, policy I posted earlier in the month about disabled activists being arrested outside of Sen. John McCain’s Washington office. I was unsure about the situation and how it was handled, but I found a post from Disabled Soapbox taking us into the action. […]