Cinderella, Snow White, Tinkerbell and other fairy tail characters were arrested, handcuffed, frisked and loaded into police vans. In all, police arrested 32 people, most in Disney character costumes.
The arrests ended a public labor protest that started with an hour-long march to Disneyland from one of the Disney-owned hotels that’s at the center of a labor dispute. Over two thousand maids, bell hops, cooks and dishwashers at three Disney-owned hotels are working under a contract that expired in February. Their union claims that Disney’s latest proposal makes health care unaffordable and creates a new category of part-time employees who would receive significantly-reduced benefits.
The protesters sat in a circle holding hands on a busy intersection outside Disneyland. Police arrested and placed them in plastic handcuffs before finally loading them into two police vans while hundreds of hotel workers cheered. Police charged the protesters with a misdemeanor count of failure to obey a police officer and two traffic infractions. All were cited and released.