7/26/11 – State Capitol Police are investigating an apparent balloon-popping and shoving incident by a state employee against one of the protestors who sing at the Capitol each day. Leslie Peterson told a Wisconsin State Journal reporter she was singing “Solidarity Forever” yesterday, and was posing for a picture when a worker took out a knife and popped the balloon she was carrying. Peterson said she asked the employee for his name so she could file a complaint – and he shoved her into a door. Blood was spotted on the floor outside a Supreme Court hearing room, and down a stairway. Protestors said the employee may have stabbed himself during the scuffle. But administration spokesman Chris Schoenherr said he tripped on a stairway and cut his hand before the incident. Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs said he was treating it as a crime scene. Several hours later, dozens of balloons were released and were on the ceiling of the Capitol dome last night. Red heart-shaped balloons have been a symbol of the protests against Wisconsin’s new limits on public union bargaining. One balloon that stuck to the ceiling had become a symbol that became famous on Twitter and Facebook.
