UPDATE: 9:45PM: My friend on the scene says the police tell him that they’ve locked all the bathrooms because they don’t recognize the Democrats’ hearing as “official.” That sounds like an unwise move, unless they want people going to bathroom in the hallways. Apparently he’s at a women’s restroom now, and the cops are only letting 2 women in at a time – the women are reportedly not pleased. The cops are saying something about it being “a security risk,” people opening windows (I guess the cops consider the building closed, and if they don’t regulate who goes into the bathrooms, anyone could slip in via a window and then walk out of the bathroom as if they were always there). Friend says the police are confused and unsure about what’s going on.

UPDATE 9:39PM (all times are Eastern US): More live video from WI shot moments ago – clearly jam packed with protesters, again.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG0uyRTNgDk?hl=en]

UPDATE from the Wisconsin State Journal: (You might note that we beat the local paper by two minutes in reporting that the Capitol was back open again, but who’s counting.) Anyway, you can read their update here.

UPDATE: 9:16PM Dems secure hearing room, Capitol is open, people are streaming in to the building with chants of “Whose house? Our house!” And the crowds are back. Here is a video just shot literally a minute ago by a friend of mine inside. Sorry, he was holding his phone sideways and there isn’t much light, but you can tell the Rotunda is full again.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pcslrI61uw?hl=en]

UPDATE: 8:58PM WORT in Wisconsin is reporting that the police aren’t letting the press into the building.

UPDATE 8:55 PM: Democrats are reportedly trying to hold some kind of hearing tonight about the current situation, so that the building will be officially “open” and the demonstrators can enter. The GOP is reportedly refusing to open the committee room for the Dems to hold their hearing, and the crowd is getting very upset. The crowds are shouting “let them in!,” while the cops have reportedly shoved a few protesters. I wouldn’t be surprised if the GOP is trying to force a confrontation, trying to upset the crowd in order to make things turn violent, and thus attempt to turn the public against the protesters. Otherwise, what the GOP is doing is really stupid with tempers this hot.

Please donate to PCCC’s campaign to recall the state legislators supporting Governor Walker in his efforts to remove collective bargaining in the state.UPDATE 7:40 PM: An unidentified Democratic legislative aide has just told my friend at the capitol that the bill passed the committee and went right to the Senate where it passed, and the assembly will take it up tomorrow morning. The crowd reacted to the aide’s announcement with chants of “general strike” and “recall.” Here is a video of the crowd reacting to the news, from a cell phone so necessarily low quality:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3b-bS7BGoE?hl=en]

A friend of mine just called, he’s outside the committee room, the crowd is getting very angry, and the police are looking very unnerved.

I’m not sure I totally understand the math, but here you go, from the Wisconsin State Journal: