Capitol Confidential: Dozens arrested outside Cuomo’s office (video added)
Thirty-three [updated number per State Police] members of the CUNY Professional Staff Congress and other groups will be charged with disorderly conduct following an orderly but rather loud protest that began just after 2 p.m., when a portion of the 150 or so advocates who had been circling the Mural Room filed into the Senate stairway corridor just outside Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office. A sizable contingent of state troopers were waiting to block the closed security door.
The protesters who had elected to be arrested sat down and continued a variety of chants protesting what they characterized as a war on workers, unions, the poor and CUNY. Methodically, troopers crouched down to read a script in which the protesters were informed that they were creating an unsafe blockade, and asked to move to a different spot. All refused, and stood up to have hands secured behind their backs. They were calmly led away to cheers from the rest of the protesters hanging back at the opposite end of the stairwell.
Midway through the action, Sen. Ruben Diaz stopped to linger by the foot of the steps, and joined in the sloganeering. Sen. Bill Perkins passed by briefly.
Follow
