Five faith leaders were arrested while praying in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Monday. The clergy was speaking in protest against the Republican-led budget bill.
Among those taken into custody was Rev. Joel Simpson, Pastor at First United Methodist Church in Taylorsville.
Shortly after an officer gave multiple verbal warnings, roughly two-dozen officers surrounded the group and began arresting them one by one. Members of the group prayed and some sang “This Little Light of Mine” as they were led away from the Rotunda.
Police cleared the Capitol Rotunda to make the arrests but allowed press to continue documenting the scene as they placed the five people in handcuffs. At a similar protest a week before, press members were steered into a section with a closed door and then instructed to leave the floor entirely.
Capitol Police confirmed they arrested five people after warning them multiple times, charging them with “crowding, obstructing, and incommoding.”
Simpson issued a statement on social media admitting his arrest saying that the intent was not to be arrested. He indicated the group was protesting what he called an immoral budget by the Trump Administration.