Thuggish mobs have taken over the Wisconsin state capitol

Here is evidence, from the Weekly Standard blog, that the physical safety of state legislators has been put at risk by the union protesters who have occupied the state capitol building over the last week. The police, who are pro-union, have allowed them to control the building, block hallways, and physically molest and threaten legislators and their aides.

The View from Wisconsin: ‘Our Political Process has been Stopped by a Mob’
12:45 PM, Feb 19, 2011 By MARK HEMINGWAY

If you want to know just how unruly the union protests are at the state capitol in Madison, check out this eye-opening account from a Wisconsin political insider over at a Milwaukee radio station:

Last night one Senator told me they had been told to clear the Capitol because the new groups coming in overnight are filled with people “who aren’t afraid to be arrested” and the Administration could not guarantee the safety of the legislators and their staffs. In our Capitol.

On Thursday, legislators were advised to return to their offices and lock their doors. Mobs roamed the halls, banging on the glass of the doors, pounding on the walls. No one could move in the halls or enter or leave the building. The glass of the Supreme Court’s entrance was broken. Legislators were genuinely afraid. Our elected representatives were afraid. In our Capitol.

A young female reporter trying to get into the Senate chamber struggled to get through the crowd. She arrived disheveled and upset because she had been roughed up as she tried to get through “Bitch-slapped” the mob told her. A senior senator was spat on. A senator and his female staffer struggled to get into the capitol. He was worried about his staffer because the crowd was grabbing at her and pushing her. University Police were two arms lengths away and did nothing. They, of course, are union.

Can you imagine the wall-to-wall media coverage if Tea Partiers were acting so disrespectfully?

[end of TWS entry]

Thus, while the withdrawal of the Democratic legislators from the state has prevented the legislature itself from going into session and voting on bills, the occupation of the capitol building by the union mobs has blocked other normal functions in the capitol building. It’s not just a “strike,” as I described it last night; it’s a semi-violent takeover.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at February 20, 2011 08:22 AM | Send