Demonstrators crowd Capitol in wild scene after Senate vote
Madison - Protesters have poured into the Capitol after police stopped guarding at least one entrance and outside doors were opened.
Scott Golueke of Madison said he had watched as demonstrators on the inside of the building attempted to force their way past police to the doors of the State Street entrance of the Capitol. The demonstrators were not using their arms but were attempting to walk through police as the officers attempted to drag them back.
But then the police left and the demonstrators on the inside of the building were able to open the doors, allowing protesters to stream in, he said.
At the State Street entrance, there was no immediate signs the door had been forced or damaged.
Police are currently guarding stairwells to the upper floors of the building.
Tim Donovan, a spokesman for the state Department of Administration, said he had heard reports from police that windows and doors to the building had suffered but had no more specifics immediately. A Journal Sentinel reporter did a full circuit of the building and didn't see any immediately visible damage to any doors.
But Donovan backed off that report a half hour later, saying he personally had walked around the Capitol on the outside and found no evidence of broken glass. A Journal Sentinel reporter alsodid a full circuit of the building on the insideand didn't see any immediately visible damage to any doors.
Just after 9 p.m. an official in plain clothes removed the handcuffs locking the doors of the King Street entrance from the inside.
The official declined to identify himself to a Journal Sentinel reporter but another State Patrol officer identified the man unlocking the cuffs as a law enforcement officer.
A demonstrator, Matthew Pearson of Madison, said he was glad the doors were being unlocked so people could leave the building in an emergency.
"How are we supposed to get out?" Pearson said.
Meanwhile in Milwaukee, in a Facebook-aided demonstration that started small and then swelled, protesters marched up and down the sidewalk outside the county Courthouse and chanted their displeasure at Republicans who pushed through a bill to deprive many public workers of their bargaining rights.
Protesters in Madison demanded to be let inside the Capitol, and in one scene at the southeastern entrance, scores of protesters pressed against the door as two-dozen police pushed them back.
One protester got partly inside the door and was dragged in by the State Patrol.
Outside, protesters chanted "Let us in," banged drums and blew horns in protest and threw snowballs at windows of the Capitol.
Inside, they yelled "You lied to Wisconsin," and "Kill the Bill."
Matt Gallo, 50, of Madison, a private school teacher, protested the Republicans' quick vote. He stood about 20 feet from the doors of the Senate as pandemonium erupted around him.
"I think it's Machiavellian," he shouted.
"They see the polls that show Walker is in trouble and it's their last attempt to jam this down the peoples' throats."
"I think it's shameless."
Donovan said that the building was scheduled to close at 6 p.m., but when the Senate voted to call a conference committee, members of the public were allowed in.
At 4:30 p.m., about 2,000 people had been allowed in the building, Donovan said. Others came in after. All members of the public had to go through metal detectors.
Earlier, as senators debated the legislation, hundreds inside pressed close to the Senate chambers and whistled loudly and roared their disapproval.
Dozens of police officers guarded the floor of the Senate.
Before a conference committee vote that took place before the Senate convened, one protester was able to get inside the Senate parlor, stood up and yelled:
"Take a moment. Step back from the abyss. Think about what you are doing."
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