Indian-American Congress woman arrested

Washington, June 29: Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal was arrested along with 575 other women during a protest staged here against US President Donald Trump’s border and immigration policy. Jayapal said she was asked to speak at the demonstration called by women at the Hart Senate Office Building on Thursday, reports The Seattle Times. The civil disobedience was a reaction to the Trump administration’s crackdown at the US-Mexico border, including separation of thousands of children from their parents in recent months. “We chanted and sang and talked about the need to reunite these families and to end the President’s zero-tolerance policy.”

The women were arrested and charged with unlawfully demonstrating in the Senate office atrium, said Eva Malecki, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Capitol Police. Jayapal was issued a $50 fine for “crowding, obstructing, or incommoding”. It was her third arrest at a protest, the other two occurring years before her 2016 election to Congress. Jayapal has also helped organise “Families Belong Together” protests set for Saturday, with demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and other cities across the nation. (IANS)