SOURCE: Associated Press, FOX 5 News
ATLANTA – On Tuesday afternoon, November 13, 2018, ifteen protesters, including Georgia state Senator Nikema Williams from Atlanta, were arrested and taken to the Fulton County jail following a demonstration inside the state Capitol as they called for uncounted ballots from last week’s election to be tallied.
An emailed statement from the Georgia Department of Public Safety Tuesday, read that demonstrators were charged with misdemeanors under a law that makes it illegal to disrupt meetings of the state legislature with “loud, threatening, or abusive language.”
Authorities ordered dozens of demonstrators to leave the second-floor rotunda Tuesday afternoon as lawmakers began a special session to approve funds for hurricane recovery.
Supporters of Democrat Stacey Abrams say thousands of uncounted votes could still tip the governor’s race into a runoff on December 4 against Republican Brian Kemp. A federal judge blocked Brian Kemp from calling the gubernatorial race until Friday.
According to reports from the Associated Press, Senator Williams was quoted,
“I showed up at the Capitol today for a special session to take care of the citizens of Georgia. I saw I had constituents protesting for their voices to be heard. There are countless Georgians who cast their ballots and still don’t feel like their voices are heard. I joined them down on the floor, and I was singled out as a black female senator standing in the rotunda with constituents…I’m incredibly proud and will continue to stand with the citizens of Georgia to demand that their votes be counted.”
Video provided to FOX 5 News by CAIR Georgia shows Capitol Police and Georgia State Troopers trying to break up the crowd in the rotunda of the Georgia Capitol. Some of the people in the crowd were holding signs which read “count every vote.”The caucus stated Sen. Williams was taken into custody around 2 p.m. and booked into the Fulton County Jail.
According to FOX 5 News the Democratic-led caucus released the following statement:
“It is beyond troubling that an elected member of the General Assembly has been arrested for peacefully standing in support of citizens exercising their First Amendment rights. Even more troubling that it is in conjunction with citizen speech about counting every vote.”
The names of the 14 others arrested have not yet been released by authorities.
