U.S. Capitol Police on Feb. 26 arrested 21 HIV/AIDS activists who protested in the Cannon House Office Building.
Those arrested, who were part of a group of more than 30 activists, began chanting and blowing whistles while holding signs, “Save USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development), Save Lives” and “US Congress Kills People With AIDS Worldwide.”
The 21 activists who were arrested formed a circle on the marble floor and staged a sit-in to protest the Trump-Vance administration’s cuts to USAID and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and Congress’s failure to protect foreign aid programs. ACT UP NY, Health GAP, Housing Works, and the Treatment Action Group organized the protest.
“This demonstration marked the one month anniversary of President Trump’s controversial stop-work order that froze humanitarian assistance, an action activists described as both deadly and illegal,” Housing Works said in a statement.
The activists demanded the full restoration of PEPFAR funding, and warned of negative health outcomes from the funding freeze to PEPFAR and other international aid programs that USAID administered.
Capitol Police arrested the 21 activists after they did not follow orders to disperse.
“It is against the law to protest inside the Congressional buildings, so just after 11:30 a.m., approximately 21 people were arrested in the Cannon Rotunda for 22-1307 Crowding, Obstructing, and Incommoding.” Capitol Police said in a statement to the Washington Blade.
Washington Blade International Editor Michael K. Lavers contributed to this report.
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