Now it's Washington State v Democrat Gov., hippies and SEIU sleepover in Capitol demanding Gov. Gregoire stop budget cuts-17 arrested

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Washington State Democrat Governor needs to cut $5 billion.

4/7/11, "17 arrests as rowdy protesters block governor's office," KOMO News, Bryan Johnson

"Seventeen people were arrested Thursday afternoon outside the governor's office as protests over statewide budget cuts grew noisier and more boisterous, witnesses said.

• • View photos »

The arrests came as labor groups converged on the Washington state Capitol for a third day of demonstrations to call attention to budget cuts they called "immoral."

The 17 protesters were arrested following a pushing and shoving match between protesters and Washington State Patrol troopers.

Demonstrators were blocking the entrance to the governor's office and chanting "We want to see her!" when state troopers ordered them to disperse.

Many of the protesters retreated down a hallway, but a group of people locked arms and refused to move. Sixteen of the protesters were cited for disorderly conduct and released. The seventeenth protester was taken into custody and booked into jail on suspicion

• of assaulting two troopers.

Before the arrests, hundreds of people were already on the scene Thursday morning. Many of them spent the night on the hard marble floor of the main legislative building.

The Washington State Labor Council said the protests would focus on proposed cuts to state-funded health services, and demonstrators urged lawmakers to close tax loopholes rather than making cuts in the budget.

Members of the Service Employees International Union, which represents caregivers for clients with special needs, claimed there are some 567 tax loopholes in Washington state that could be closed to prevent drastic budget cuts.

As the legislative day began Thursday, state troopers dragged about a dozen protesters from the House gallery after they started reading aloud what they called "personal histories" of disabled clients affected by budget cuts. There were no arrests in that incident.

Meanwhile, another large protest group numbering in the hundreds massed at a downtown Olympia park and marched to a Chase Bank branch.

The demonstrators claimed that Chase Bank is receiving millions of dollars in tax breaks from the state that it inherited after taking over Washington Mutual. Protesters called for the elimination of the tax breaks.

Later, a group of protesters gathered in the Rotunda and ended up marching toward the governor's office, where the shoving match and arrests took place.

• "This is our house, and I'm not backing down, not one bit," shouted one demonstrator. "My house, our house, everybody's house. And this is how we get treated. No more."

Labor groups promised even bigger demonstrations on Friday, when thousands of protesters are expected to converge on the capitol.

Meanwhile lawmakers are continuing their efforts to close a looming

• $5 billion budget deficit.

House lawmakers are expected to vote this week on a budget plan that would slash state spending by $4.4 billion for the 2011-2013 budget cycle. The Senate will follow

• next week with its own budget proposal."

via Big Government, photos from KOMO