Protests, Arrests Escalate at NC General Assembly

A demonstrator is handcuffed and arrested outside the House and Senate chambers during a protest Monday at the Legislative Building in Raleigh. / Gerry Broome/AP

More than two dozen peaceful demonstrators were arrested yesterday in the rotunda of the General Assembly building in Raleigh. They were there to protest the GOP-controlled legislature, which has refused to accept federal dollars to expand Medicaid to provide health insurance to more poor people, has cut unemployment benefits, has ended the earned income tax credit, and has passed new voting restrictions.

Those arrested were charged with second-degree trespassing, failure to disperse on command, and the displaying of signs or placards, which violates building rules. Among those arrested yesterday were William Chafe, former dean of Arts and Sciences at Duke University; Robert Korstad, a professor of public policy and history at Duke; Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, an historian at the University of North Carolina; Charles van der Horst, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine; and members of the social justice group Raging Grannies.

Van der Horst said of the new Republican majority in the General Assembly, “These people don’t believe in the sanctity of life. They believe in protecting their own wealth and their own power.” Their policies targeting the old, the ill, and minority groups, said van der Horst, in addition to their efforts to restrict access to abortion, expose their hypocrisy about "respecting life."

Groups organizing the protests say that they will continue until every voter in North Carolina is aware of the arrogant power being wielded in Raleigh.