COLUMBUS – Columbus police arrested more than a dozen protesters at the downtown office of U.S. Sen. Rob Portman Friday afternoon.
This article has been updated to show 15 protesters were arrested.
UPDATE 7/710:06PM 16 protesters arrested-all from out of state:NY & PA. All volunteered 2 be arrested. Some say they were arrested in DC too https://t.co/err9QrRbkC
— Columbus Division of Police (@ColumbusPolice) July 8, 2017
Police say they arrested 16 people on trespassing charges after they allegedly interefered with Columbus fire division medical personnel trying to respond to a medical emergency at the building.
Columbus Division of Fire medics were trying to enter the building at 37 W. Broad Street Friday afternoon to respond to a report of a person suffering from chest pains and protesters were blocking entry, according to the division’s social media sites.
Organizers of the protest say those arrested, many of whom were in wheelchairs, were members of National ADAPT, a disability rights group opposed to Republican plans to dismantle former president Barack Obama’s health care reform program. They were taken to the Franklin County Jail, protesters said.
The protesters’ account of the incident differs from that of police officials. They claim officers told them at approximately 3:00 p.m. that officials of Huntington Bank, which manages the building, “put the property on lockdown,” according to Yes We Can Columbus communications coordinator Madeline Stocker, who says she was one three activists occupying Portman’s office.
“Whether it was officials at Huntington, CPD or Senator Portman himself, whoever made the call to force us from the building was clearly trying to manufacture a reason to use excessive force,” Stocker said.
On the Columbus Division of Police Twitter account, officials confirmed that all of those arrested were from New York and Pennsylvania and “volunteered 2 be arrested.”
Members of Portman’s staff met with the protesters Thursday and allowed them to remain in the building “after they refused to leave even when the buildings closed” and met with them again Friday, Portman spokeswoman Emily Benavides said.
“We aren’t going to allow a handful of Socialists, many of whom are from New York to disrupt our ability to serve the needs of the Ohio constituents who contact us in need of vital services every day,” Benavides said. “When the groups impeded the work of other tenants in the building, building security called local law enforcement.”
Stocker says the protest, organized by Yes We Can Columbus, ADAPT and Democratic Socialists of America, was one of 28 other sit-ins around the country, which began Thursday at noon, in protest of the GOP health care bill.
Portman is among several Republican senators who voiced opposition to a bill intended to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The lack of support forced GOP leaders to postpone a vote on the measure.
Portman also opposed the House version of the bill.