Sharon Pineo, 70, of Round Lake, N.Y., was photographed being detained by officers on the steps of the Capitol, apparently having made it past barricades surrounding the building. Ms. Pineo organized a charter bus to the protest, according to The Albany Times Union.
A member of the town of Malta’s zoning board of appeals, Ms. Pineo, a Republican, has since resigned her position, following calls for her removal, according to The Daily Gazette, which obtained a copy of her resignation letter.
“I tender this resignation with regret, but believe that in these challenging times, it is important to not all any impediment to the smooth operation of the town’s business,” Ms. Pineo wrote.
Though she was photographed in a green windbreaker, slumped as multiple officers appear to grapple with her, Ms. Pineo denied involvement beyond protesting, she said in a statement submitted to a local radio station, The Gazette reported.
“I would like the public to know that I did not enter the building nor did I commit any violence,” she said in the statement, adding she merely “exercised on behalf of the people the freedom of speech.”
She has not been charged with a crime.
A Buffalo-area anti-mask activist
Pete Harding of Cheektowaga, N.Y., spent about 40 minutes inside the Capitol, according to an interview he gave to The Buffalo News. Mr. Harding, an anti-mask activist who has frequently spoken out against coronavirus lockdown measures, was arrested this summer for refusing to wear a mask in a Buffalo liquor store.
