Over 1,200 arrested at U.S. Capitol in 8-day protests against big money in politics

More than 1,200 people have been arrested at the U.S. Capitol during eight-day protests against big money in politics, police said.

Protest organizers put the number at about 1,300, including some 300 detained on the Capitol's east front steps on Monday alone, the final day of the demonstrations attended by thousands of people from all over the United States.

Most of the arrested were charged with unlawful crowding and obstruction and released later on the scene, said the Capitol police, who had voiced three warnings before beginning to round protesters up.

Among them are actress Rosario Dawson and Harvard Law School professor Larry Lessig, who ran for president for this cycle. They were briefly detained on Friday.

The protesters, chanting "money out, people in" among other slogans, denounced laws making it more difficult to vote and urged the U.S. Congress to pass legislation which would ensure all Americans have a fair voice in the poll.

Many of them held up signs protesting the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling in the Citizens United case, which is believed to have opened the door for the rise of newer super PACs (political action committees).

Under the ruling, the super PACs can raise unlimited amounts from virtually any source and contributed to corporate influence in campaigns.

"Our democracy should be about big ideas, not big checks," said Dan Smith with U.S. Public Interest Research Group, one of the over 260 groups that supported the protests outside the Capitol Hill.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has also criticized that billions of dollars from the wealthiest people in America are already flooding the political process.

"The situation has become so absurd that super PACs, which theoretically operate independently of the actual candidates, have more money and more influence over campaigns than the candidates themselves," said Sanders in the campaign.

A report from the New York Times last October said half of the then 176 million dollars raised by presidential candidates came from 158 U.S. families, noting that such a degree of concentration has never been seen since the 1970s.

A 2014 Princeton University study indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.

As Americans' worries about big money in politics have intensified, analysts warn that the growing influence of big money in the elections will not only erode democracy, but also worsen social disparity. Enditem