About a dozen arrested protesting NC GOP’s legislative work

By EMERY P. DALESIO
Associated Press

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — About a dozen people wearing clerical collars and business suits face charges after disrupting the North Carolina Senate to protest Republican policy priorities.

The Senate paused deliberations for about 20 minutes Wednesday as singing, chanting members of the “Moral Monday” movement demanded reverses on several GOP decisions.

The protesters want expanded Medicaid coverage while the federal government paid nearly the entire added cost, increased public education spending, and rolled back abortion restrictions.

The protesters were arrested after kneeling near the brass main doors of the Senate chamber and told they were violating fire-safety codes. Those arrested included the divinity school dean at Shaw University, a historically black college in Raleigh.

The protests marks two years since the movement’s first arrests and organizers estimate more than 1,000 have now been arrested.

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