A group of disabled Americans protesting the Senate’s plan to kick 22 million off of health insurance knew they faced jail if they showed up at Senator Todd Young’s office – and possibly worse. Just four days ago, Mitch McConnell had a group of similar protesters forcibly removed from his office and threatened with arrest. Still, the activists did not expect cops to begin attacking them.
Tragically, this is the state of America today.
19 disabled ppl just held sit-in @ Senate office in Indianapolis
2 were “thrown into wall & badly injured,” reports ADAPT’s Teresa Torres
— Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) June 26, 2017
Torres told me security took their phones, so no video of event itself. Here are photos of the disabled activists being hospitalized after: pic.twitter.com/ASYhKD1qTF
— Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) June 26, 2017
Vox’s Jeff Stein is reporting that a staged sit-in at Sen. Young’s Indianapolis office to protest the Republican healthcare bill turned violent, with cops throwing at least two disabled protesters into walls. According to ADAPT’s Teresa Torres, both were “badly injured” and had to be hospitalized. One protester had her knee slammed into a wall, and police threatened to arrest her before they bothered calling for medical help.
Just got this text from Amber Smock, digital media contact with @NationalADAPT. No video proof but allegation is flooring: pic.twitter.com/GToS80t4Yl
— Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) June 26, 2017
More troubling still, witnesses at the scene reported that cops were confiscating phones and, in at least one instance, were observed deleting video that showed the assaults taking place.
The attack on the protesters occurred just an hour or so before the Congressional Budget Office confirmed that the Senate version of the Republican healthcare bill will indeed kick 22 million people off of insurance within the next 10 years, just 1 million less than that of the House’s disastrous version. The same day, Republicans announced they would be putting a stunningly cruel addition into the legislation – a rule that a person who misses one or two months of coverage the year before would be forced to lose their health insurance for 6 months as punishment before being allowed to sign up again.
With the stakes that high, protesters — many of whom are disabled and depend on the life-saving benefits of Medicaid — descended on Republican offices across the country to voice their outrage. Instead of sympathy, they’ve been ignored, kicked out, and in this case, assaulted. The Republican Party seems unwilling to look its victims in the eyes while they seek to destroy their lives, a lack of courage stunning even for them.
As of this writing, at least one of the activists injured in the attack is still recuperating at the hospital.
Spox: Activist still @ hospital. Arrests threatened; none made. “This shouldnt be what it takes to get health care for ppl w/ disabilities”
— Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) June 26, 2017
Featured image via Twitter
