Big Turnout For Protest to #CancelKavanaugh

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WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 4: Protestors rally against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, October 4, 2018 in Washington, DC. Kavanaugh's confirmation process was halted for less than a week so that FBI investigators could look into allegations by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a California professor who has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her during a party in 1982 when they were high school students in suburban Maryland. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

A huge turnout in Washington D.C. today for a protest aimed at getting lawmakers to rethink their decision to support Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

The Huffington Post reports:

Thousands of protesters — including sexual assault survivors and their allies —marched on Washington from the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse, where Kavanaugh currently works, to the Hart Senate Office Building in a last-ditch effort to appeal to senators to vote no on his confirmation.

As crowds filled the Senate halls, police began making arrests ― hundreds, by some accounts ― for civil disobedience.

More than 300 people were reportedly detained, including comedian Amy Schumer.

Time magazine writes:

As the protesters were arrested, some started to chant, “arrest sexual predators, not protesters!” Some women painted their faces with the word “No” scrawled underneath their eyes. Others wore hand-made T-shirts alluding to their own assaults. One said “1988, I was 19, #MeToo,” another said “standing up for my 12-year-old self.” One woman, who had flown in from Los Angeles for the protest, wore a blue dress with hand-painted letters that said “Confirming a Liar is Not Patriotic.” Protesters cheered as somebody dropped a banner that said “We Believe All Survivors.”

The folks behind the Women’s March say, “Hundreds of women, survivors & allies were arrested today. DC police won’t let them to post their fines now, so people from other states have no choice but to stay overnight or come back.

NPR adds:

Others gathered in the offices of Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, whose votes are likely to be decisive when it comes to Kavanaugh’s future. The moderate senators are two of just a handful of politicians who have not yet announced whether they will be voting for or against his confirmation.

Sarra Khlifi of Anchorage, Alaska, was among the protesters who made the trek to D.C. to lobby Murkowski, her state’s senior senator. Khlifi told Alaska Public Media’s Liz Ruskin that she took the American Civil Liberties Union up on its offer to fly women to the nation’s capital. 

Meanwhile, Senator Orrin Hatch told a group of protesters to “grow up.”

Protests are expected to continue Friday as Senators vote on whether to confirm Kavanaugh.