In a final attempt to be heard, thousands of people gathered at the US Capitol in Washington to protest the potential appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court.

Demonstrators unfurled banners and chanted, showing their support for survivors of sexual assault, and their disdain for the high court nominee, who has been accused of criminal sexual behaviour.

The final vote will take place on Saturday (there is also a vote today that will reveal where key senators stand) – a vote that could go in Kavanaugh’s favour after he garnered the support of key Republican Senators Jeff Flake and Susan Collins, who said that they were satisfied by an FBI investigation into sexual assault allegations, reports The Guardian.

Thousands of protesters, survivors of sexual assault among them, gathered outside the courthouse in the US capital where Kavanaugh currently sits as a federal judge and walked in unison to the supreme court, where he hopes to secure a lifetime appointment.

They marched to a rallying cry: “We believe Dr Christine Blasey Ford”, the university professor who has accused Kavanaugh of drunkenly and violently sexually assaulting her at a party when they were teenagers.

“It’s time for women to be heard,” said Karen Bralove, an alumna of Holton-Arms, the all-girls preparatory school Ford attended in the early 1980s when she alleges Kavanaugh attempted to rape her.

Inside the Capitol, senators digested the findings in the FBI report on the sexual allegations against Kavanaugh.

No surprises there. Still, protestors, including celebrities Amy Schumer and Emily Ratajkowski, say they aren’t giving up hope just yet.

From the exterior of the supreme court, by late afternoon demonstrators marched directly to the scene of the debate. Thousands packed the atrium of the Hart Senate office building, while streams of protesters flooded each floor with chants of “Our court” and “Justice now”.

Many spread out banners and sat on the floor, then were put in plastic handcuffs by law enforcement and led away.

WATCH: Police officers are taking anti-Kavanaugh protesters out of the atrium one-by-one. pic.twitter.com/0J1kcgN0P3

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 4, 2018

US Capitol police said 302 were arrested. Among them was Schumer, who is involved with the Time’s Up movement against sexual violence and harassment and is a distant relative of the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, and the model Emily Ratajkowski.

Ratajowski posted this on Twitter following her arrest:

Kavanaugh’s nomination has been met with protest since day one, in large part due to the suspicion that he will try to overturn Roe v. Wade – which was decided by the Supreme Court on January 22, 1973, and affirms the constitutional right to access safe, legal abortion.

The protests have escalated since then, especially after accusations of sexual assault came to the fore, and don’t seem likely to end any time soon.

As one of the protestors put it: “We do not do 10 days of marching and then go back to our lives, because nothing is the same any more. Nothing.”

[source:guardian]