Joyce Beatty (an Ohio congresswoman) was taken into custody along with eight other activists on Thursday while they protested on Capitol Hill. Capitol police arrested Beatty after she demonstrated for voting rights at the atrium of a Senate building.
“You can arrest me. You can’t stop me. You can’t silence me,” Beatty wrote on Twitter after her arrest. Beatty and a group of around 20 protesters demonstrated in the hopes of putting pressure on senators to pass voting rights legislation.
The group sang spirituals and chanted phrases to protect voting rights such as “free the voter”, “end the filibuster” and “fight for justice.” Beatty was arrested by Capitol Police along with eight other protesters. They were bound with zip ties.
Rep. Joyce Beatty, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, is arrested after participating in a small voting rights protest that culminated in a march around the Senate Hart Office Building Atrium. pic.twitter.com/PYcA1wllkk
— Morgan Rimmer (@morgan_rimmer) July 15, 2021
A statement from Capitol Police states that protesters were warned to stop three times before being arrested for violating a D.C. Law. This law prohibits “crowding or obstructing” and allows demonstrators to “resume participating in a demonstration after they have been instructed by law enforcement officers to stop. The Capitol Complex is still closed to the public. However, staff and members are permitted to invite guests into the building.
Rep. Joyce Beatty among those arrested protesting for voter rights in the Senate Hart building atrium. pic.twitter.com/5PXYijNCEz
— Casey J. Wooten (@Casey_J_Wooten) July 15, 2021
Beatty and the demonstrators were calling on the Senate to pass the For the People Act, a wide-ranging voting and elections reform bill that was blocked last month, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Lawmakers are still crafting the latter bill, which restores a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act gutted by the Supreme Court, and the House is expected to vote on it in the fall.
