At least seven anti oil and gas protesters were arrested Monday in Austin, Texas as they demonstrated outside the William B. Travis State Office building
Organized by the Poor People’s Campaign, the protest sought a ban on new oil and gas permits as well as single-payer health care and paid sick days. It was part of a “National Call for Moral Revival.”
The protesters gathered outside the the Capitol and marched to the Texas Railroad Commission where some were taken into custody for holding a sit-in.
Several Texas Department of Public Safety troopers were on hand as the protesters sat on the floor and sang “We Shall Not Be Moved.” Despite the arrests, the handcuffed protesters were not jailed, but instead were told they are prohibited from the building for a year.
The demonstration was reported to be among three dozen such protests modeled after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 Poor People’s Campaign.