RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The Latest on protests at the North Carolina General Assembly (all times local):
4:20 p.m.
Twelve protesters have been arrested at North Carolina’s Legislative Office Building as part of a demonstration calling for gun control, poverty relief and other social justice measures.
General Assembly Police Chief Martin Brock confirmed the number arrested Tuesday and said each was being charged with misdemeanor trespassing.
The protesters were part of a group of about 100 who gathered to hear speeches as part of the Poor People’s Campaign led by the Rev. William Barber.
Dozens marched into the office building near the Capitol where a joint House-Senate committee was holding a hearing on tax-related portions of the state budget. A few protesters made it into the hearing room and caused lawmakers to delay what they were doing for 20 minutes.
Protesters who couldn’t make it inside chanted loudly in the hallway surrounding the hearing room.
Those arrested were led out one-by-one in plastic zip-ties.
Barber wasn’t among those who went inside.
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3:30 p.m.
Dozens are walking into North Carolina’s Legislative Office Building to call for social justice on issues ranging from gun control to poverty relief.
About 100 people gathered Tuesday in North Carolina’s capitol to hear a speech by the Rev. William Barber, leader of the revived Poor People’s Campaign. Barber gained nationwide attention for his nonviolent protests as head of North Carolina’s NAACP before moving on to head a revival of the campaign first launched during the civil rights era.
Barber told the crowd that lawmakers are more interested in arresting voters who protest than working to ban assault weapons.
After the speech, dozens began filing into the Legislative Office Building nearby. Dozens have been arrested in prior protests in North Carolina this year.
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