Rev. Dr. William Barber, a prominent American pastor and social justice activist, was arrested on Monday while praying in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, alongside two others.
The arrest came less than a week after President Donald Trump officially launched a task force to investigate anti-Christian bias.
Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign and founder of the Centre for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School, was detained with Rev. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Steve Swayne, director of St. Francis Springs Prayer Centre, as reported by the Religious News Service (RNS).
The three were praying and lamenting the effects of government budget cuts when Capitol Police issued verbal warnings, cleared the Rotunda, including members of the press, and placed the men in handcuffs.
“To think that we went in to pray - pray against the budget, but to pray nonetheless - and the order now is that, evidently, if you pray, you are seen as violating the rules of the Rotunda,” Barber told RNS. “What we hope is that folks will see this and it will begin to remove some of the fear, and people will understand that this is the time - now - that we must engage in nonviolent direct action to register our discontent.”
A statement from Repairers of the Breach, a non-profit founded by Barber said on Monday: “The arrests occurred after an interfaith gathering of leaders from across the nation delivered a moral message to the nation this morning at the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to sound the alarm on the immoral budget cuts and proposed budget cuts being pursued in Washington D.C. at the expense of the poor, working people, children, women, and families.”
Barber and his colleagues were briefly detained and later released.
Capitol Police have stated that the three were charged with "crowding, obstructing and incommoding.” Authorities explained that all demonstrations inside congressional buildings are strictly prohibited.
