Sunday, March 13, 2011

Wis. Labor Protesters Say Next Fight at the Polls

AP Photo/Morry Gash

Mar 13, 1:48 AM EST
By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Clogging the Wisconsin Capitol grounds and screaming angry chants, tens of thousands of undaunted pro-labor protesters descended on Madison again Saturday and vowed to focus on future elections now that contentious cuts to public worker union rights have become law.

Protests have rocked the Capitol almost every day since Gov. Scott Walker proposed taking nearly all collective bargaining rights away from public workers, but the largest came a day after the governor signed the measure into law. Madison Police estimated the crowd at 85,000 to 100,000 people - along with 50 tractors and one donkey - by late afternoon. No one was arrested.

Speakers delivered angry diatribes while the crowd carried signs comparing Walker to dictators and yelled thunderous chants of "this is what democracy looks like."