MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Pro-union protesters have vacated the Wisconsin Capitol on the 17th day of round-the-clock demonstrations after a judge ordered the building closed at night.
About 50 protesters left the building peacefully Thursday night about two hours after a judge ruled the state had unconstitutionally restricted building to the access. But the ruling also said the protesters had to leave Thursday night.
That led to a sometimes tense two hours as police and the attorney who represented the unions who fought the policy to restrict access to the building urged them to leave peacefully.
Dane County Circuit Judge John Albert ruled Thursday night that protesters remaining in the building should be immediately removed - along with any unauthorized materials such as sleeping bags and signs taped to the Capitol walls.
The judge also ruled that the state violated constitutional protections for free speech and assembly by restricting access to the building. He ordered the administration to re-open the building to the general public by 8 a.m. Monday, allowing for a permitting process limiting the times and places where rallies can be held.
The demonstrators have been rallying against a proposal by Gov. Scott Walker to eliminate nearly all collective bargaining rights for most public employee unions.
Earlier in the day, dozens of rounds of live rifle ammunition were found Thursday scattered around the grounds of the Wisconsin Capitol, where large crowds of people have been protesting Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to rescind nearly all collective bargaining rights for most public employee unions.
State attorneys revealed the ammunition discovery during a hearing in Dane County Circuit Court, where unions were asking a judge to lift restricted-access rules that have been in place since Sunday and swing open the doors to the public. State attorneys cited the ammunition while suggesting the building should instead be closed for a security sweep.
State officials said about 100 demonstrators remained in the building Thursday, still ignoring what was a 4 p.m. Sunday deadline for people to depart so the building so it could be cleaned. Since then, police adopted a policy allowing in new protesters only when an equal number leave the building.
University of Wisconsin Police Chief Susan Riseling testified that 41 rounds of .22-caliber ammunition were found Thursday morning scattered at several locations outside the Capitol. No guns were found with them.
"I don't like to see live ammunition outside when I have significant crowds," Riseling said. "You can't do much with live ammunition without the gun, but the presence of it doesn't thrill me."