Protester Tickets Delivered at Work and Home

State capitol police have started ticketing protesters at their homes and workplaces for holding signs without a permit in the capitol rotunda.

Last week, police issued a dozen citations to protesters at the capitol for holding signs without permits. Monday, police issued seven more citations, but this time they were delivered to people at home or at work.

Bart Munger is a maintenance mechanic at the UW Madison and a regular protester at the capitol. Munger says on Monday police talked to him about a large banner he was holding at the capitol, but nothing more. He says they later showed up at his workplace to issue him two citations. “The longer I go after this happened, the madder I get. I just, I’d like to speak with some of the officers. They stepped over the line, clearly, I’d say.”

Department of Administration Spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis says the new tactic is being used to help avoid the kind of confrontation that occurs when police cite people on the spot in the capitol building. “I think this particular group is looking for that kind of confrontation, and the capitol police are there just to really maintain peace. And, they’re simply asking for this group to get a permit.”

Marquis says that if protesters ask for a permit, they will get one, as long as it does not conflict with another permitted event like a blood drive. Protesters say the only permits they need are enshrined in the U.S. and Wisconsin Constitutions.

Despite the regular citations, the crowd for Tuesday’s noontime gathering of the “Solidarity Singers” protest group was again larger than usual. Police were videotaping the crowd from an upper floor of the rotunda.