3/14/90

100 Disabled Arrested on Hill

by Stephen Buckley, Washington Post Staff Writer

About 100 persons with disabilities were arrested in the Capitol Rotunda yesterday during a demonstration calling for greater rights for the handicapped, U.S. Capitol Police said.

Most of those arrested were members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, a Denver-based organization that plans protests in Washington throughout the week to bring attention to the Americans with Disabilities Act. The measure was passed by the Senate last September and is being considered by the House.

Yesterday's arrests occurred after about 150 members of ADAPT listened to House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.), House Minority Leader Robert H." Michel (R-Ill.) and Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) discuss the disabilities act.

After the lawmakers spoke to them, the demonstrators began chanting. They were asked to leave the rotunda, but refused, said Greg Nevitt, a U.S. Capitol Police spokesman. Those who did not leave were arrested, he said.

Hoyer is the chief sponsor of the Americans With Disabilities Act, which seeks to bar discrimination against those with disabilities in several areas: private sector employment, public accommodations, services provided by state and local governments, telecommunications and transportation.

Nevitt said those arrested were charged with demonstrating in the Capitol rotunda and unlawful entry. They are slated to be arraigned in D.C. Superior Court tomorrow.

Created on

Friday 12 July 2013

Posted on

Monday 29 June 2015

Tags

ADA, ADAPT, arrest, Capitol police, civil disobedience, demonstration, House Minority Leader Bob Michel, House Speaker Tom Foley, Representative Steny Hoyer, Rotunda

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