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NAACP Members Arrested At Sessions Sit-In

Organization’s president among protesters against Sessions’ attorney general nomination

The NAACP protesters broadcast their Tuesday sit-in on Facebook Live. (Cornell William Brooks via Twitter)
The NAACP protesters broadcast their Tuesday sit-in on Facebook Live. (Cornell William Brooks via Twitter)

Six members of the NAACP were arrested after staging an all-day sit-in at Sen. Jeff Sessions’ office in Mobile, Ala., to protest his nomination as attorney general.

The NAACP members said they considered Sessions a poor choice to lead the Justice Department because of his record on civil rights, The Associated Press reported.

“We all are aware of the laws of trespass,” said NAACP President and CEO Cornell William Brooks, who was among the protesters. “We are engaging in a voluntary act of civil disobedience.”

The arrests came after NAACP members refused the building manager’s request that they leave after the building closed at 6 p.m. The building houses other offices in addition to that of Sessions.

Brooks shook hands with police officers, who allowed the protesters to kneel and pray before they were led away.

Sarah Isgur-Flores, a spokeswoman for Sessions, defended the senator, telling the AP that he “has dedicated his career to upholding the rule of law, ensuring public safety and prosecuting government corruption.”Many African-American leaders who’ve known him for decades attest to this and have welcomed his nomination to be the next Attorney General,” she said. “These false portrayals of Senator Sessions will fail as tired, recycled, hyperbolic charges that have been thoroughly rebuked and discredited.” she said.

Brooks later posted the group’s mugshots on his Twitter account.

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