Americas

Americas

12 busted at US Supreme Court demo

21 January 2012 04:14 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Police in Washington, DC have arrested a dozen Occupy the Courts protesters at a demonstration against a court decision allowing limitless financing of federal elections by corporations, APA reports quoting Press TV.

â€œI feel like corporate money is invading our politics and taking voices away from the common people. So I felt it’s important to kind of come out and be seen and possibly be heard,â€ said Paul King, one of the protesters who attended the demonstration outside of the US Supreme Court on Friday.

Protests against the 2010 decision Citizens United, which legalized raising and spending an unlimited amount of money for political campaigns, were held outside courthouses in a number of cities across the country.

US President Barack Obama raised nearly $750 million for his 2008 election campaign. On April 1, 2011, Obama announced that he would beat his 2008 record and collect even more donations for his reelection campaign.

Several of the largest corporations and banks in the US, which the Occupy protesters say represent part of the one percent controlling the country, contributed to Obama’s 2008 campaign.

The Occupy Wall Street movement emerged after a group of demonstrators gathered in New York’s financial district on September 17, 2011 to protest against the excessive influence of big corporations on US policies as well as corruption and the unjust distribution of wealth.

Friday’s demonstrations, dubbed Occupy the Courts, were organized by the Move to Amend grassroots coalition, in collaboration with the Occupy Wall Street movement.