Hundreds Arrested at Anti-Kavanaugh Protest

Comedian Amy Schumer and model Emily Ratajkowski, along with 300 anti-Kavanaugh protestors, were arrested and detained in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, as thousands of demonstrators marched down the Senate Office Building where the confirmation vote of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is set to occur.

Among the massive crowd, Schumer was spotted holding a “We Believe Anita Hill” sign.

“That’s what we’re going to do: We’re going to keep showing up and no matter how this goes, they cannot keep us down,” Schumer shouted. “We will win. A vote for Kavanaugh is a vote saying ‘Women don’t matter.’ Let’s stay together. Let’s fight. Let’s keep showing up.”

Prior to Thursday, organizers of the rally indicated that more celebrities, including singer Alicia Keys and actor Maggie Gyllenhaal, promised to participate in the “Cancel Kavanaugh” demonstration. However, Schumer and Ratajkowski seemed to be the only celebrities who showed up.

Among the participants were survivors of sexual assault.

“November is coming,” they chanted. “Survivors will remember.”

Protestors focused their appeal to senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Susan Collins (R-ME), all of who were still undecided on their vote at the time of the rally.

“Senator Murkowski, do you believe us?” a woman from Alaska called out his senator in front of the pillars of the US Supreme Court. “You better believe us. You better believe survivors.”

Madison Thomas, a survivor from the Women’s March Youth Empower organization, gave an emotional speech.

“What the hearings told me was that our country, our congressmen, value the reputation and the career aspirations of my male classmates, or men, of my assaulter, more than my bodily autonomy,” Thomas said.

Standing out among the crowd was Ben Bergquam, the founder of an organization called Frontline America, who flew all the way from California not to support the movement but to give anti-Kavanaugh protestors a piece of his mind.

He was one of the few participants who did not believe Dr. Ford’s allegations. “Don’t be sexist. Don’t believe women just because they’re women,” he shouted.

By Thursday afternoon, police officers began to arrest hundreds of protestors for “unlawful demonstration”.

“I think we’re going to get arrested,” Schumer said in a video to a protester’s daughter on Twitter.

Half an hour later, when Capital police asked her if she wanted to be arrested, she replied “yes.”

Ratajkowski disclosed her arrest to the world on Instagram: “Today I was arrested protesting the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, a man who has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault,”

“Kavanaugh’s confirmation as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is a message to women in this country that they do not matter,” she wrote. “I demand a government that acknowledges, respects and supports women as much as it does men.”

The arrest of 302 protestors appears to be a climax for the Kavanaugh drama as the Senate wrapped up his confirmation over the weekend.

The all-day shouting and yelling perfectly encapsulate the mutual resentment that has been festering between those who endorse the judge and those who condemn him.

“This is a lot of emotion, a lot of hurt, disagreement on a lot of issues for millions of Americans,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) told Wall Street Journal. “But I’m still confident that we’re going to find a way to get things done on a lot of issues that won’t get your attention because they’re not acrimony, they’re not fighting.”

As of Saturday, Kavanaugh was sworn in as the 114th Supreme Court Justice. More protests are breaking out all over the country.

Featured Image via EPA/Erik Lesser