Indiana deputy AG fired after he urged police to 'use live ammunition' on protesters



A deputy attorney general in Indiana has been sacked after calling for the use of live ammunition against union protesters in Wisconsin .

Jeffrey Cox made the inflammatory statement via his Twitter account.

He was responding to a posting by liberal magazine Mother Jones that said riot police could sweep demonstrators out of the Wisconsin Capitol building where they were protesting labour legislation.

Fight: Demonstrators protesting in the Capitol building in Wisconsin. Indiana deputy attorney general Jeffrey Cox called for live ammunition to be used on them

According to Mother Jones, one of its reporters contacted the person behind the Tweet and discovered it was Cox.

When challenged about the statement, he Tweeted back that the demonstrators were 'political enemies' and 'thugs' who were 'physically threatening legally-elected officials', according to the magazine.

He added: 'You're damned right I advocate deadly force', before calling the reporter a 'typical leftist' adding 'liberals hate police', Mother Voice said.

In a separate e-mail, Mother Jones asked Cox to provide some context for his remarks.

Provocative: Cox made the inflammatory comment in response to a post on Twitter that riot police may sweep protesters out of the Capitol building

According to the magazine, he replied 'For "context?" Or to silence me? All my comments on twitter and my blog are my own and no one else's. And I can defend them all.'

The Indiana attorney general's office said in a statement that Cox was 'no longer employed by the state'.



It added: 'Civility and courtesy toward all members of the public are very important to the Indiana Attorney General's Office.



'We respect individuals' First Amendment right to express their personal views on private online forums, but as public servants we are held by the public to a higher standard, and we should strive for civility.'



Boss: Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, pictured, has sacked Cox over his comments on Twitter

Cox made his comments on Saturday night as thousands of protesters occupied the state Capital in Wisconsin.



The demonstrators have been there for eight days now in an attempt to block a bill that would strip public employees of most of their collective bargaining rights.

Wisconsin faces a $3.6bn budget deficit in the coming two-year period - the public employee bill is designed to save $300m during that time.

Democratic lawmakers, union leaders and rank-and-file teachers and firefighters have called on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to back off his plan.



They argue that the unions have already agreed to cuts in their health care and retirement benefits that could reduce take-home pay for many workers by about 8 per cent, and it was time for the Republican governor to compromise.

But Gov. Walker has warned that state employees could start receiving lay-off notices from next week if the bill isn't passed by Friday.



He said up to 1,500 workers could lose their jobs by July, although he has failed to say which workers would be targeted.



The union unrest is spreading through the mid-western U.S. and has already reached Ohio and Indiana.