This story has been updated to include comments from Jose DeMarco.
An ACT UP Philadelphia member was arrested Dec. 1 while protesting in Washington, D.C. Jose DeMarco was among 10 HIV/AIDS activists who were detained at 2:30 p.m. while protesting Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s and Chairman of the House Budget Committee Tom Price’s plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
According to a tweet posted by @HealthGAP, DeMarco said as he was arrested, “In 2016 we should not be here still fighting for things we’ve already won.”
“Medicare, Medicaid and the ACA are the difference between life and death for millions of Americans with HIV,” DeMarco said in a statement released prior to the protest, held in conjunction with World AIDS Day. “Paul Ryan and Tom Price are planning to pull the rug out from under us, but we’re not going to let that happen.”
DeMarco said the protesters approached Ryan’s office armed with alarm clocks, which they gave to Ryan’s staff after requesting to speak with him.
“We got in and then the staffers came out to the door,” DeMarco said. “We handed them alarm clocks and told them to wake up [and to] tell Paul Ryan to wake up. These cuts are going to kill us.”
DeMarco said the staff stated they could only deliver the protesters’ message and the demonstrators linked arms and sat on the ground as a form of protest. The action lasted for about 10 minutes prior to the arrests.
“There are racist, homophobic bigots that are going to make people’s lives miserable and cause sickness and cause death,” DeMarco said. “That’s actually what I was thinking about when they locked me up.”
ACT UP Philadelphia held a meeting Dec. 5 at The Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany to discuss the protest and the needs of the HIV/AIDS community in the incoming presidential administration.
Other organizations involved in the protest were African Services Committee, ACT UP New York, the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), DC Fights Back, the Health Global Access Project (Health GAP), National Nurses United (NNU), the Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC), the Treatment Action Group (TAG), Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) and VOCAL New York.