New York Rep Arrested During Voting Rights Protest Outside Capitol
‘NON-VIOLENT DIRECT ACTION’
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) was arrested Thursday during a voting rights protest at the U.S. Capitol, according to a spokesperson. He had joined “a voting rights non-violent direct action at the North Barricade of the U.S. Capitol Building and was arrested by the U.S. Capitol Police,” Marcus Frias, Bowman’s director of communications, said in a statement. Bowman “was arrested alongside at least 20 others, including faith leaders and youth who have been hunger striking for our democracy,” Frias added. Frias told The Journal News that Bowman had not been released as of early Thursday afternoon. The Capitol Police said in a tweet that officers began making arrests after several warnings to demonstrators who were “blocking one side” of the Capitol’s North Barricade went unheeded. The protest took place less than a day after Senate Democrats failed to change the chamber’s filibuster rules, allowing a voting rights bill a year in the making to be defeated by Senate Republicans.