Afraid of the protesters he would draw for his plan to slash the social safety net in order to make the rich richer, this month Rep. Paul Ryan cancelled public town halls in favor of
events requiring paid tickets. In response, unemployed constituents in Ryan's district are asking for face-to-face meetings by conducting
sit-ins at his local offices. So far, Ryan's staff has
twice threatened to call the police on those protesters.
The protests are continuing despite these threats, and so is the escalation from Paul Ryan's office. Yesterday, cameras were banned at one of his local offices, as Wisconsin Jobs Now showed through the photo on the right. Further, one of the protesters, Andrew Cole, was told by the police that Ryan's office has now restricted parking, with tickets and towing threatened. Now today, numerous reports have emerged that the protesters have been locked out of the office.
Before they were locked out, one of the protesters captured a video of a confrontation with a member of Ryan's staff:
As of 10:20 am central, the protesters remained undeterred, chanting "we're back" outside the Racine office.
Update: While a police presence continues to block the protesters from entering the Kenosha office, protesters have apparently entered the Racine office.