The founders of ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s were arrested in Washington D.C. Monday during the final day of protests against corporate money in campaigns.
The demonstrations at the U.S. Capitol lasted a week and saw a record number of arrests at a protest in the District.
U.S. Capitol Police arrested more than 1,400 protesters during Democracy Spring and Democracy Awakens’ seven days of demonstrations at the Capitol. The event broke the D.C. record for most arrests during an event, the Democracy Spring protesters said.
About 300 demonstrators and 60 organizational leaders were taken in on the final day of sit-ins on the east side of the Capitol, including the cofounders of Ben & Jerry’s, the president of the NAACP and executive vice president of the AFL-CIO labor federation.
“Democracy is supposed to be for all of us, but right now we have an out-of-balance system favoring the interests of big money. This can’t go on. I’m prepared to risk arrest to send a message that democracy should truly be of, by, and for the people,” Ben Cohen, cofounder of Ben & Jerry’s, said in a statement Monday before he was arrested.
Company co-founder Jerry Greenfield said he joined the movement because the current state of politics is “not what our founders envisioned, and it’s not what democracy is supposed to be about.”
After mass arrests at the capitol @YoBenCohen stamping bail $$ for hundreds #DemocracyAwakens #DemocracySpring pic.twitter.com/OTIhI4Emyt
— Joseph Huff-Hannon (@JoeHuffHannon) April 18, 2016
“The right to vote is the closest thing we have to a civic sacrament. It is enshrined in our temple of democracy. Yet we are going into the first presidential election in 50 years without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act,” said NAACP President Cornell William Brooks.
Democracy Spring, organized by 501(c)(4) group 99 Rise, started in Philadelphia nearly two weeks ago. Participants marched 140 miles to the nation’s capital, where they started five days of sit-ins outside Congress’ headquarters. On Saturday, the protest morphed into Democracy Awakening, which included teach-ins, a rally, march and lobbying.
With the conclusion of the protests, organizers said they are encouraging state supporters to start grassroots efforts to reform the electoral system, including starting petitions and proposing ballot initiatives for the November election.
