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Actress Rosario Dawson takes part in a "Democracy Spring" demonstration on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, April 15, 2016.(Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP)
Police arrested hundreds of people protesting the influence of money in politics this week in Washington, D.C., but peaceful tangles with the officers<span style="color: Red;">*</span>were one of the group's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>main goals.
U.S. Capitol Police arrested more than 900<span style="color: Red;">*</span>protesters through Saturday afternoon.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The mass demonstrations called "Democracy Spring"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>began Monday.
Those arrested were charged with violating a D.C. statute prohibiting<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"crowding, obstructing, or incommoding," which are misdemeanors, said police spokeswoman Eva Malecki.<span style="color: Red;">*</span><span style="color: Red;">*</span>All of those arrested<span style="color: Red;">*</span>were Democracy Spring-related participants. Most were processed and released on the scene.
"The demonstrators have been orderly and respectful throughout the events," Malecki said.
Actress Rosario Dawson said in a video posted on YouTube on Friday that the group hopes to surpass all previous Capitol protest<span style="color: Red;">*</span>records for number arrested, topping 1,000 by the time the week-long demonstration wraps up<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Monday.
The Democracy Spring<span style="color: Red;">*</span>effort started in Philadelphia, where thousands began a 140-mile walk to the U.S. Capitol to "demand Congress take immediate action to end the corruption of big money in our politics and ensure free and fair elections in which every American has an equal voice."
Peaceful sit-ins were planned and more than<span style="color: Red;">*</span>3,500 people<span style="color: Red;">*</span>pledged to risk arrest, the group said on its website.
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"This week, we're taking back our democracy," Dawson said. Money in politics has<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"distorted our politics and our issues." Police arrested the actress Friday on Capitol Hill for crowding and obstruction. She was briefly detained and will be required to pay a $50 fine like the others arrested, says Malecki.
Harvard Law School professor and former Democratic presidential candidate Larry Lessig was arrested Friday — for the first time ever.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"I'm a law professor," he said Saturday. "I don't get arrested."
But he made an exception for the issue that he based his short-lived campaign on: Campaign finance reform.
Harvard Law School professor and former 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Lawrence Lessig discusses campaign finance reform at the American Enterprise Institute November 13, 2015 in Washington, DC.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images)
"I’m so incredibly excited with the kind of passion and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the mix of people that were there," said Lessig, noting it's spread beyond the usual "law geeks and intellectuals" who rally around campaign finance reform.
WUSA
Another 85 arrested as protests continue at Capitol
Many of the protesters, including Dawson, held up signs protesting the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling in the so-called Citizens United case. The case opened the door for the rise of Super PACs — political action committees that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>can raise unlimited amounts from virtually any source <span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>contributed to corporate influence in campaigns, critics say.
Supporters of the activist group 'Democracy Spring,' which have been staging protests for a week at the U.S. Capitol to 'end the corruption of big money in our politics and ensure free and fair elections,' gather for a rally on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC, USA, 15 April 2016.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: JIM LO SCALZO, EPA)
Still, it's unlikely<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the group can achieve the kind of attention it desires — it aims to change the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>course of the 2016 presidential election. But some say the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>campaign season itself is giving much-needed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>attention to money in politics.
"We're seeing it with the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>surprising support for Senator Sanders, who has made it a central part of his campaign, and when Trump says he can't be bought.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>That resonates with people who realize<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the system is rigged against them."<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said Wendell Potter, co-author of the new book Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy and What We Can Do About It.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
Democracy Spring's protests in Washington could obscure the fact that people across the country are starting to fight the effects of corporate interests in local elections, Potter said. His cites changes made in Tallahassee, Fla., Seattle and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in South Carolina, where lobbyists are now banned from making<span style="color: Red;">*</span>campaign donations.
Democracy Spring protesters tend to be left-learning, but Potter said groups on the right, including Take Back Our Republic, share the "common concern about what's happened to our democracy."
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