Police split up Hagan protest

kkiley — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:18:40 -0400

Police separated two groups organizing outside of U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan's office in Raleigh today while they were protesting health care reform.

The protest originally was organized by the national liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org, which held protests at senators' offices across the country today. The protest of about 20 people was pushing for a public option in health care reform. The national group has been watching Hagan specifically.

Another group organized by NC Freedom, a conservative group, showed up to protest against MoveOn and the public option for health care.

The group's plan, according to its Web site, was to block out the health care protest. "We need to have number sufficient to encircle their entire group," the Web site says. After protesting at different ends of the sidewalk, the conservative group, which was larger and had more signs, surrounded the group from MoveOn.

Police said the two groups were blocking the courthouse's door, and moved them to different parts of the sidewalk outside of the courthouse. Officers said it was a judgment call to separate the two groups.

Correction: An earlier version of the post incorrectly said Hagan had not decided whether to support a public option. Hagan supports the public option proposed last week by the Senate health committee. That plan is known as the Community Health Insurance option.

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