When NAACP-NC President Rev. William Barber suggested from the N.C. General Assembly building's second floor (where civil-disobedience arrests were beginning to take place) that people sit down if they believed it was necessary, observers on the third floor quietly sat. The action was spontaneous and unplanned.
This is a very quick update on the 12th wave of the Moral Monday movement in North Carolina. Tonight, for the first time, observers on the third floor of the N.C. General Assembly building who were watching civil-disobedience arrests begin on the second floor sat down on the floor. Within less than five minutes, General Assembly Police made announcements that the building was closed and that people must disperse or risk arrest.
Both the General Assembly building and the Legislative Office Building on the adjacent block were closed. For the first time in the Moral Monday movement, people were refused entry or reentry to either building.
Early estimates of Moral Monday #12 arrests are at approximately 70 at this time. It is unknown how many (if any) arrests were made on the third floor.
This is a marked departure from earlier protests. Previous civil-disobedience actions involved peaceable assembly and compliance with arrests; no one has engaged in passive resistance. But tonight ... tonight was different.
I'll have a more complete report by morning. Because of my legal standing as a Moral Monday arrestee (June 10), I chose leave the building immediately and not risk another arrest and escalation of charges.