June 23, 2021- 8:40 p.m.
Rev. Jesse Jackson, 79, was arrested by Capitol police for ‘illegal demonstrating activity’ during a Poor People’s Campaign protest in Washington D.C. on Wednesday.
Fellow liberal activist Bishop William Barber II, 57, was also arrested during the protest with more than 20 other people, according to WTTG.
Barber and Jackson, who has Parkinson’s disease, were ‘field arrested’ for ‘illegal demonstration activity’ while protesting in support of voting rights and given a ticket but were not taken to jail, NBC News reported.
Jackson and the protesters had blocked the street outside of the Hart building and refused to disperse during the nonviolent protest, according to Vice News reporter Alexis Johnson.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the U.S. Capitol Police for more information and additional comment.
Jackson confirmed his arrest by retweeting posts noting that hundreds of progressive activists had marched outside Capitol offices to protest Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin for the senate’s failure to pass the For the People Act.
The Poor People’s Campaign had announced earlier this week that they would be protesting under the banner A National Call for Moral Revival, WTTG noted.
People online were quick to draw comparisons between the arrests of Jackson and Barber by Capitol police and those who were arrested after the deadly riots at the Capitol on January 6.
‘Amazing how none of the Jan 6th people were arrested on the spot. I wonder what the difference is,’ @MerovingianEJ tweeted.
Another Twitter user wrote: ‘Arrested for being Black no doubt. No one in DC arrested white Insurrectionists for trying to overthrow our Government.’
‘I guess cops are sending the message you need to come in body armor, with weapons and threats of killing lawmakers to not get arrested. Or be white…’ Twitter user @nobodyonit wrote.
The prominent reverend has often been arrested during protests and demonstrations over the decades.
Barber, the co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign and a member of the national board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has also previously been arrested for his activism.
