Wisconsin GOP to kick protestors sleeping in the Capitol out

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Mike Elk

Mike Elk is a labor journalist and staff writer for In These Times

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February 24th, 2011 2:17 PM

Wisconsin GOP to kick protestors sleeping in the Capitol out

Dave Weigel of Slate Magazine just conducted an interview with Wisconsin Senate GOP Majority Leader Fitzgerald. In the interview below, Fitzgerald announced that starting Saturday at 6pm, the police are going to kick the protestors sleeping in the Capitol out.

The protestors I have spoken with have vowed to stay anyways. Could this set up a showdown in which Governor Walker is forced to use police to drag firefighters, steelworkers and students sleeping in the Capitol out of the building? Such a scene has not been seen in the United States since the 1968 Democratic Convention. And it would be the same kind of affront to democracy that people in Egypt and other places around the world have faced in their non-violent revolutions.

Check out Dave Weigel here to get the details on the crackdown efforts:

At his presser today and in a short scrum afterward, Fitzgerald explained that the Senate would start limiting access to those areas after 6 p.m. Saturday, restricting the sleepover.

"Some of the Democratic senators have been housing demonstrators in their offices," he explained, "and both the law enforcement and I think some of the other Capitol concerns said that, listen, we're very uncomfortable with people jamming sleeping bags into legislative offices and sleeping overnight. It actually made no sense to have security just outside of the vestibule, and then behind the law enforcements officers, offices that were jammed full of staffers that were hosting protesters.

Follow-up: Will the staging areas be cleared out on Saturday?

"Yeah, I mean, what we're trying to do -- it's actually the staying overnight that I think security, the Capitol police, and certainly other law enforcement agencies were very concerned about.

I asked Fitzgerald about the offices that have been used by protesters, led by the Teaching Assistant Association, as work centers and places to get food and drinks. Would they be cleared out?

"I don't think we're trying to clamp down on that," he said. "I think what law enforcement is worried about is, they have no idea how many people are in one office at night, sleeping bags everywhere. And there were concerns about exiting people out if something would happen, not having any idea how many people are in those legislative offices."

Follow-up: Will the doors to the Capitol remain open? "We had a Senate resolution that shut down the vestibule of the whole Senate chamber. We're going to continue to do that. I don't want this area open to the public. In the South wing, obviously, legislators need to be able to move freely to their offices, and back and forth to the chamber and the office areas."

Follow-up: Is the plan to clear the building entirely? "I don't know what the plan is for the whole building. I know for the South wing, the plan is to keep it open and allow the legislators to move freely."
Follow-up: So senators and legislative aides could be in there, but that's all? "Yeah, I mean, the concern is, they don't know how many people are sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags in these offices that are starting to become either staging places or places to hold protesters. I think that's what the concern is."