Rev. Jesse Jackson, 79, arrested by Capitol police for ‘illegal demonstrating activity’

Rev. Jesse Jackson, 79, was arrested by Capitol police for ‘illegal demonstrating activity’ during a Poor People’s Campaign protest in Washington D.C. on Wednesday.

Fellow liberal activist Bishop William Barber II, 57, was also arrested during the protest with more than 20 other people, according to WTTG. 

Barber and Jackson, who has Parkinson’s disease, were ‘field arrested’ for ‘illegal demonstration activity’ while protesting in support of voting rights and given a ticket but were not taken to jail, NBC News reported.

Jackson and the protesters had blocked the street outside of the Hart building and refused to disperse during the nonviolent protest, according to Vice News reporter Alexis Johnson.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the U.S. Capitol Police for more information and additional comment.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, 79, was arrested by Capitol police for ‘illegal demonstrating activity’ during a Poor People’s Campaign protest in Washington D.C. on Wednesday

Fellow liberal activist Bishop William Barber II, 57, was also arrested during the protest with more than 20 other people

Jackson and the protesters had blocked the street outside of the Hart building and refused to disperse during the nonviolent protest

Hundreds of progressive activists had marched outside Capitol offices to protest Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin for the senate’s failure to pass the For the People Act

Jackson confirmed his arrest by retweeting posts noting that hundreds of progressive activists had marched outside Capitol offices to protest Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin for the senate’s failure to pass the For the People Act.

The Poor People’s Campaign had announced earlier this week that they would be protesting under the banner A National Call for Moral Revival, WTTG noted.

‘McConnell’s obstructionist caucus as politically mean, extreme, regressive and anti the Constitution – anti the very Constitution they swore to uphold,’ Barber said during a speech at the protest.

‘Officially, somebody said that they proved they were the party against voting rights but we’ve already known that. We didn’t need a procedural vote to prove that to use.’

Rev. Jesse Jackson, center, joins demonstrators in blocking traffic prior to being detained by Capitol Police as they call for Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, to support the elimination of the Senate filibuster in order to pass voting rights legislation

Rev. Rev. Jesse Jackson waits for his vehicle in front of the Senate Hart Office building in Washington

Civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson speaks during rally in support of the ‘For the People Act’ voting rights legislation in front of the U.S. Supreme Court

Political activists Reverend William J. Barber II and Reverend Jesse Jackson prepare to be detained outside the Hart Senate Office Building for obstructing traffic

The Rev. Dr. William Barber II works to calm a demonstrator before being arrested as protesters rallied in front of the Supreme Court and marched to Senate office buildings

People online were quick to draw comparisons between the arrests of Jackson and Barber by Capitol police and those who were arrested after the deadly riots at the Capitol on January 6.

‘Amazing how none of the Jan 6th people were arrested on the spot. I wonder what the difference is,’ @MerovingianEJ tweeted.

Another Twitter user wrote: ‘Arrested for being Black no doubt. No one in DC arrested white Insurrectionists for trying to overthrow our Government.’ 

‘I guess cops are sending the message you need to come in body armor, with weapons and threats of killing lawmakers to not get arrested. Or be white…’ Twitter user @nobodyonit wrote.

The prominent reverend has often been arrested during protests and demonstrations over the decades. 

Barber, the co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign and a member of the national board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has also previously been arrested for his activism.

Rev. Jesse Jackson and his arrests for protesting

Rev. Jesse Jackson, 79, was arrested by Capitol police for ‘illegal demonstrating activity’ during a Poor People’s Campaign protest in Washington D.C.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a leader of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, has long been a controversial figure for his activism and protests.

Jackson, one of the ‘Greenville Eight,’ was arrested on July 16, 1960 with seven other black protesters for ‘disorderly conduct’ after a sit-in at the white-only Greenville Public Library in South Carolina.

He befriended Martin Luther King Jr. and participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965 he participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches with other civil rights leaders.

In 1993, Jackson was arrested with about 100 other people who were charged with creating a public disturbance after they blocked a city intersection during a rally in Connecticut, the Hartford Courant reported.

The protest had started when members of the New England Health Care Employees Union went on strike at the Winthrop Health Care Center Inc. nursing home after a lockout and dispute over the nursing home’s Medicaid contract. 

In 1999, Jackson was arrested as he stepped onto the grounds of a high school to protest the expulsion of six students for a brawl at a football game in Decatur, Illinois, the Associated Press reported.

In 2007, Jackson was arrested at a demonstration outside a suburban Chicago gun shop and charged with one count of criminal trespass to property when he refused to move away from the entrance, CBS News reported.

A group of activists had been protesting outside of the store outside the shop after a 16-year-old honor student who was shot on a city bus. It had been alleged that the store was selling weapons to local gang members.

In 2011, Jackson was arrested with two dozen other demonstrators outside a prison to protest the scheduled execution of Wanda Jean Allen, the Chicago Tribune reported.