UPDATING: 16 Protestors Arrested as North Carolina GOP Lawmakers Attempt ‘Coup’ Over Incoming Democratic Governor

About 16 Reportedly Arrested Including Local Lawmaker, Reporter

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory fought the election results for a month, but in the end the longtime Republican with deep ties to GOP state lawmakers conceded to his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Roy Cooper. On Wednesday, Republican lawmakers, concluded a special session called by McCrory, and with nearly no notice, opened a new special session to address “emergencies.”

Those emergencies included 28 bills, but were focused on just one: legislation that would strip the incoming Democratic governor of much of his power.

Right now, police are arresting protestors in the state house who are calling the Republicans’ actions a veritable coup. Among those arrested is a local city council person and a reporter.

Police reportedly are threatening to arrest other reporters also:

North Carolina NAACP posted this video minutes ago:

And this tweet:

There’s even a Twitter hashtag: #nccoup.

More:

UPDATE II: 5:36 PM EST –
Top North Carolina political reporter Colin Campbell via Twitter says 20-25 arrested, per police:

More:

5:48 PM EST –

More:

As of now it appears police have cleared the statehouse, protestors are still gathered outside:

Lawmakers are continuing their session, which some say was constituted illegally:

Here’s a quick video of Chris Sgro, who happens to be both the Executive Director of Equality North Carolina and a Democratic NC lawmaker. He’s reminding lawmakers of what happened to NC with HB2:

Protestors chanting, “Shame! Shame! Shame!”

UPDATE IV: 5:58 PM EST –
It’s important to note a few things. First, Republican lawmakers are Trying to jam 28 bills down the throats of North Carolina’s citizens, all of which have been presented without notice. No time to read or debate – just like they did with HB2.

Second, the session itself right now may be unconstitutional, as the NC GOP has closed the doors to the public. That may violate NC’s Public Meetings law, but we can’t report that with certainty right now.
 

UPDATE V: 6:22 PM EST –
The number of people arrested is being reported as 16 now:

UPDATE VI: 7:22 PM EST – 

NEW: Watch Live Now: North Carolina House Debates GOP Bills Stripping New Democratic Governor of Powers

NEW – HB17 passes. Just one of many: Despite Large Protest North Carolina GOP House Passes Bill Greatly Restricting New Democratic Governor’s Power

 

NCRM will continue to update – stay tuned.

 

This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story will be updated, and NCRM will likely publish follow-up stories on this news. Stay tuned and refresh for updates.

 

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