The Topeka Statehouse was the scene of dueling Christian and Satanic rallies on Friday that turned violent when protestors entered the capitol and got in a scuffle. Photo by Nils Huenerfuerst/Wikimedia Commons
March 29 (UPI) — Four people were arrested at the Kansas Statehouse after simultaneous rallies by Christian and Satanic religious groups turned violent.
Capitol Police and the Kansas Highway Patrol arrested two men and two women in the first floor rotunda of the state capitol after demonstrators shouting opposing messages — “Christ is King” and “Hail Satan” — got into a scuffle during the rallies Friday in downtown Topeka.
Michael Stewart, the 42-year-old leader of the Satanic Grotto, was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly, as was Marcus Jeremiah Jared Schroeder, who was punched in the face by Stewart, KHP said.
Schroeder, 21, reached for a paper Stewart was holding while reciting a Satanic verse as part of a Black Mass being held by the group. Schroeder was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct.
Schroeder, an anti-abortion and anti-homosexuality activist, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for his actions at an LGBTQ pride rally in Watertown, Wis., in August 2023.
Also arrested and taken to the Shawnee County Jai, were Jocelyn Krysteen Frazee and Sean Anderson on suspicion of unlawful assembly. They were part of the Satanist rally, and were arrested when they followed Stewart into the Statehouse.
None of them were listed as inmates of the jail on Saturday.
The rallies were scheduled to be the last day of the regular legislative session, but lawmakers finished their work the night before.
The Satanists’ Black Mass was held on the east steps of the Capitol building, while a Catholic group prayed and sang songs at the south steps in protest. Several hundred Christians were led primarily led by the Catholic group American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property.
Catholics also held a Mass at Assumption Catholic Church across the street from the Capitol building, as well as at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church four blocks away.
A Black Mass is a ceremony celebrated by Satanic groups as a parody of a Catholic Mass as an act of rebellion to draw attention to non-Christian religions and beliefs, according to Stewart.