Anti-poverty activists stopped from entering Kentucky Capitol again

Tom Loftus | Courier Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Poor People's Campaign protest at Frankfort The Kentucky Poor People's Campaign returned to Frankfort after being denied access to the Capitol Building only to be denied a second time Monday.

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Demonstrators flocked back to the Kentucky Capitol on Monday to talk, sing and chant for the rights of poor people, but for the second week in a row their access inside the public building was limited.

About 125 demonstrators with the Kentucky Poor People's Campaign tried to enter the Capitol at about 3 p.m. after a rally outside on the steps but again were informed of a recent policy to allow only two members of the group inside the building at a time.

Two leaders of the campaign entered and delivered the group's petition to respect the rights of the poor to the Governor's Office. They were blocked from entering the office by a velvet rope and more State Police security, but a member of Gov. Matt Bevin's staff came out to accept the petition.

About two dozen of the demonstrators staged an evening sit-in in the cramped space of the Capitol foyer – inside the door but in front of the security checkpoint amid a heavy state police presence. At about 8:30 p.m. they decided to leave.

"We opened the people's house and kept it open," Pam McMichael, of Louisville, who is one of the three leaders of the Kentucky campaign, said in a statement Monday night. "We feel good about what happened and we'll be back."

The demonstration was the campaign's fifth in a series of six protests it has scheduled at the Capitol this spring and the second in a row where state police denied group access.

Consider this: Was it legal to stop protesters at Capitol doors? State reps want answers

Background: An anti-poverty group was denied access to the Kentucky Capitol

Josh Lawson, the spokesman for the state police, said the rule allowing only two members of the group inside at a time is new "protocol by our Facilities Security Branch as well as our Legislative Security Branch."

He said the protocol was put in place after 17 members of the group came inside the Capitol after a May 21 demonstration outside and remained in the building all night.

That evening the 17 declined when asked to leave, Lawson said, and committed the crime of criminal trespassing. But Lawson said their action was peaceful and none of the 17, who left the next morning, were arrested.

"Based on those actions and ... based upon their statements and intentions to be arrested and to commit criminal acts once inside of the Capitol, we enacted that protocol," Lawson said.

Lawson also said the group has never applied for, or received, a permit to demonstrate inside the Capitol.

But Rev. Megan Huston, senior minister of at First Cristian Church in Bowling Green, said before Monday's demonstration, said, "We believe it is our Constitutional right for us to speak out to our elected officials. And this is our house. We pay taxes...We believe that it is our Constitutional right that we should have access to our house. We don't need a permit, the Constitution is our permit."

The confrontations at the Capitol doors are likely to continue.

On Wednesday, the Rev. William Barber, co-chairman of the national Poor People's campaign who spoke at the Frankfort demonstration last week, plans to return to Kentucky's Capitol on Wednesday for a news conference.

'Poor People's Campaign' tries to enter Capitol again The group returned to Frankfort, but were told they could enter the Capitol only 2 at a time.

The Poor People's Campaign agenda calls for “nonviolent direct action” for new laws and policies to help the poor, end racism and protect the environment. The national Poor People’s Campaign is also staging demonstrations at more than 30 state capitols this spring.

Monday’s gathering was focused on pushing for laws that require “living wages,” rights of all workers to join unions, more funding for anti-poverty programs and free tuition at public colleges.

Speakers on Monday said that more than 4,000 Kentuckians are homeless, that a worker making Kentucky's minimum wage would need to work 77 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom apartment, and that about half of Kentucky's workforce makes less than $15 per hour.

Monday evening during the four-hour sit-in demonstrators outside tried to deliver pizzas to those sitting just inside the Capitol's front door but were prohibited from handing the pizzas inside the door.

Lawson said the Capitol was closed as of 4 p.m. and that the delivery was an "attempt to prolong the illegal trespass that is going on." He said those sitting in the Capitol were free to leave if they got hungry.