Over a dozen House staffers arrested after protesting in Sen. Schumer’s office

At least 12 congressional staff who were protesting climate change legislation took over Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office in Washington.

The protestors held banners with slogans saying “Keep Negotiating Chuck,” and “Climate Policy Now,” “Our farms are flooding,” and “TRY.”

Andrew Marantz, who is a journalist from New York, documented the protestors being arrested by Capitol Police with a series of tweets and photos. The arrest was said to take place less than one hour after the protest started.

The Capitol Police released a statement regarding the arrest. “Around 11:15 a.m., U.S. Capitol Police officers responded to a demonstration that was inside room 322 in the Hart Senate Office Building. Six demonstrators were arrested for DC Code §22-3302 Unlawful Entry for failing to leave the office after they were told to leave. The six people who were arrested are all House staffers,” the statement read.

The staff arrested included Cori Bush (D-MO), Bush’s policy adviser Saul Levin (D-MO), Ilhan Omar’s staffer Philip Bennet and House Reform and Oversight Staffer Aria Kovalovich.

Saul Levin said in a tweet before law enforcement arrived: “Right now, we Hill staffers are peacefully protesting Dem leaders INSIDE. To my knowledge, this has never been done. We’ve also never seen climate catastrophe, so we’re meeting the moment. Follow along as we fight with everything we have to jumpstart climate negotiations.”

“We’re asking Senator Schumer to negotiate like this is the coldest summer of the rest of our lives (it is),” Levin went onto say.

The protest took place after the senate’s failure to move forward on climate change legislation earlier this month. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) blocked the legislation stating that inflation as his justification to avoid any overspending.

Manchin has said that he and Schumer will have to continue discussions either this week or next. Manchin was quoted as saying “We understand each other well enough.”

Manchin spoke out on Tuesday stating that he hopes to find a middle ground. “We can agree to disagree, we can agree to try and find a moderate middle. He knows that I’m not in the base camp far to the left; that will never happen. He knows exactly where I’m at. Now whether they can get there or whatever, we’ll see.”