Police on Saturday began arresting protesters who had gathered just feet (meters) from the entrance to the United States Capitol building, despite a barricade blocking off the area, as legislators inside prepared to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
The group of about 150 who somehow got around the newly-erected barricade were among about 2,000 protesters — most of them women — outside the building where senators were to vote mid-afternoon.
They were expected to appoint the conservative judge to the court after a nomination process which bared partisan divisions ahead of US midterm elections next month.
An AFP reporter saw more than 60 protesters handcuffed by US Capitol Police, after officers issued a warning and led them down the Capitol steps as the demonstrators raised clenched fists.
“Vote them out!” the protesters chanted, along with: “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Kavanaugh has got to go.”┬аThey had laid out banners several feet long on the east steps of the Capitol, which faces the Supreme Court building. AFP
