Protests outside the Arizona Capitol over the United States Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Roe v. Wade, which ended with a volley of tear gas, were variously described Saturday as either peaceful or driven by anarchists with destructive intent.
Republican State Senate President Karen Fann issued a statement describing the incident as a foiled insurrection, while protesters called it a violent overreaction by police who they say acted without warning or justification.
Statements from the Arizona Department of Public Safety said state agents released the gas when some of a group of 7,000 to 8,000 people who gathered at the Capitol on Friday night tried to storm the state Senate, where lawmakers were working to wrap up their annual session.
The vast majority of people were peaceful and state police reported no arrests or injuries. Although there were both opponents and supporters of abortion rights, the majority of the crowd opposed the Supreme Court’s decision.
At around 8:30 p.m., police fired tear gas as dozens of people pressed against the glass wall of the Senate front, chanting and waving pro-choice banners. Although most were peaceful, a handful of people banged on windows and one person tried to force open a sliding glass door.
At that moment, members of the SWAT team from the Department of Public Safety, stationed on the second floor of the old Capitol building, fired the tear gas.
Republican Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita recorded a video from inside the Senate lobby showing the scene. Another she took moments later showed state troopers in riot gear forming a line inside the building, facing protesters on the other side of the glass.
The senator said in an interview with The Associated Press on Saturday morning that protesters were clearly trying to get into the closed building.
“They were aggressively hitting the windows in a way that at any moment they could break,” Ugenti-Rita said. “This was not a knock on a window. I mean, they were trying to break the windows.”
In his videos, hundreds of protesters could be seen circling the plaza between the House and Senate buildings, while about 100 were closer by the glass wall in front of the Senate building.
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