Four women protesting at Sen. Jeff Flake’s Phoenix office arrested

PHOENIX — Four women opposing the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court were arrested Thursday for trespassing at the building that houses Sen. Jeff Flake’s Phoenix office, authorities said.

The Phoenix Police Department said in a press release that around 12:30 p.m. a group of protesters sat down outside the door leading from the offices to the courtyard of the building on Camelback Road near 22nd Street.

They refused to leave the property, which isn’t part of Flake’s office, when the property owners asked them to.

Phoenix Police officers repeatedly told them to leave or be arrested, and the four women said they intended to be arrested.

They were taken into custody without incident, the release said. The were to be charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing.

Police were not releasing the names of the women until they were booked.

Demonstrators both for and against Kavanaugh were protesting outside Flake’s office Thursday.

“Women’s rights are under attack! We won’t go back! We won’t go back!” Camaron Stevenson shouted through a bullhorn, holding his 4-year-old daughter as he led a group chant.

“I’m here for her,” Stevenson said of his daughter. “I want to be sure our girls are not assaulted.”

Other protesters carried signs with slogans like, “Liar!” and “Kava-NO!”

“We stand with the facts!” Jennifer Harrison, one of a handful of counter protesters from the conservative Patriot Movement AZ, yelled at the women’s advocates.

“No evidence! No corroboration! No witnesses!” Harrison shouted.

Flake was among three Republican senators who had pressed President Donald Trump to order a renewed background check on Kavanaugh. He told CNN on Thursday that “we’ve seen no additional corroborating information” for the accusations and said the investigation had been comprehensive.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Follow @KTAR923