VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — Five demonstrators were arrested for trespassing at a state office in Vancouver where they were protesting a cut in the paid hours for some in-home care service workers.
The demonstrators refused to leave the lobby of the state Office of Administrative Hearings at closing time Tuesday and were arrested by police and state troopers and booked for misdemeanor trespassing.
The Columbian reports (http://is.gd/6y0Nj1 ) the protesters were affiliated with the Service Employees International Union. They were protesting a cut in hours paid by the Department of Social and Health Services to people who provide services, such as laundry, to Medicaid clients.
The protesters dumped a pile of clothes in the lobby and chanted “dirty laundry” to the tune of “Happy Birthday.”
