Police end NAACP sit-in against attorney general nominee AP, Jan 4, 2017, Kim Chandler
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The national president of the NAACP and five others were arrested after staging a sit-in Tuesday at the Alabama office of Sen. Jeff Sessions, the nominee for U.S. attorney general, the civil rights group said.
The organization held the demonstration to protest Sessions' nomination by President-elect Donald Trump, criticizing Sessions' record and views on civil rights, immigration, criminal justice reform, and voting rights enforcement.
"We have an attorney general nominee who does not acknowledge the reality of voter suppression while mouthing faith in the myth of voter fraud," NAACP President Cornell William Brooks said by phone earlier in Tuesday's protest. Brooks called Sessions a poor choice to lead the U.S. Justice Department.
The sit-in at Sessions' office in Mobile, Alabama — the city the Republican senator calls home — began around 11 a.m. Tuesday. Demonstrators refused a request by the manager of the building— which includes several other tenants in addition to Sessions— to leave when the building closed for the day at 6 p.m. Police could be seen on video footage coming and handcuffing the six protesters and escorted them to a police van.
"We all are aware of the laws of trespass. We are engaging in a voluntary act of civil disobedience," Brooks told the officers who arrived at the scene.
The NAACP broadcast the events live on the organization's Facebook page. WKRG of Mobile reported that the six, which included Brooks and the president of the Alabama NAACP, were charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass and released on bond.
The all-day protest ended in handcuffs but without confrontation. Brooks shook the hands of the officers and the officers allowed the protesters to kneel and pray before they were led away.
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http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d2202d0d92524988b2fb1219db937863/naacp-sit-alabama-office-attorney-general-nominee
