Minneapolitans Protest at Capitol as Government Shuts Down

Citizens gathered on the steps of the State Capitol Thursday to voice their displeasure at the current budget deadlock and impending government shutdown.

Uptown resident Phyllis Roden said she is concerned about cuts to health and human services.

“What kind of a state have we become that we declare people disposable and we throw them away, all because people who make a hell of a lot more money than I do pay less in taxes?” she said. “All we’re saying is pay as much as we do.”

A group of a few dozen citizens marched from Kellogg Park to the Capitol where they met up with other demonstrators gathered on the Capitol lawn and steps. Demonstrators went inside the Capitol building in hopes that lawmakers would hear their plea for a deal to be reached.

While the attitude on the Capitol lawn was very relaxed with a group of people flying a kite and even playing music, the situation on the steps and inside the Capitol building were more heated as the final clock ticked towards midnight and impending shutdown.

Joel Schwartz, who lives in Uptown, came to the south Capitol steps Thursday evening after finishing up at his job as a business architect for the Human Services Department. But Schwartz received a layoff notice, and he will not be working on Friday, or any day until the state shutdown is resolved.

"I'm going to start working through my savings," he said. "It's unfortunate since I was saving it for my son's college."

Schwartz's wife, Trish Clarke, and her sister, Kathleen, came to support him Thursday evening. 

Schwartz said the Republicans' refusal to compromise was "really an attack on working people."

"To have raising taxes off the table is absurd," he said. "It means you assume that the level of taxes we have right now is the maximum we could have for any economic condition."