Stand with Iowa Freedom Fighters

On February 5th, Heaven Chamberlain and Heather Ryan organized and participated in the 50 States 50 Capitals Protest for Iowa against Donald Trump's Project 2025. Never did they think they would be arrested for standing up against Nazis.

To follow are the details about this harrowing ordeal. Spoiler: This story ends with them needing help with attorney fees.

The protest was a nationwide call to action. Though there was plenty of interest in Iowa there was no official organizer. So we (Heaven & Heather), stepped up to carry the torch. We shared the event, organized the meet up space and organized necessary tools needed to for a successful, peaceful protest in these dark times.

The protest outside the capitol was a huge success.

While the initial post-protest plan was to invite anyone willing to, to lobby their elected officials, sit in on subcommittees and give testimony, fate allowed a different opportunity to present itself.

The domestic hate group "Moms For Liberty" was seen about to set up for their “Lobby Day” in the Capitol Rotunda and Heather and Heaven decided to lead the charge to delay M4L's event by sitting in the center of the rotunda and simply taking up space. This is a common, old school technique to “Slow the Tanks” that roll toward authoritarianism.

The State Troopers proceeded to order the group to disperse, and when met with refusal, the troopers were befuddled. This was not Iowa Nice.

The leadership of M4L was having a meltdown and demanding the troopers do something, so the troopers struck a deal with the extremists. The State Troopers informed us that if we’d move so that the Klanned Karenhood could put their chairs up, we could return and sit down.

But the troopers went back on their deal and wound up forcing all of the Peaceful Protesters down a soutside hallway and threatened to illegally remove us if we got too “rowdy” and “loud.”

About a half hour into the M4L presentation, the crowd broke out into chants of “Nazi” against Rep. Skylar Wheeler, who had been intentionally chastising the demonstrators. That was when the troopers were instructed by DAS Director, Adam Steen, to clear the rotunda of all demonstgrators. Troopers deliberately and specifically targeted Heaven and Heather before they were allowed to leave with the crowd, and instead aggressively grabbed the pair and placed them under arrest instead.

The Troopers grabbed Heather’s arms and twisted them so forcefully behind her back that she screamed in pain, convinced they would break her arm. They intentionally tightened the handcuffs too tightly as to cause the circulation in her hands and arms to be pinched off, causing her apendeges to turn purple and cause severe bruising.

The Troopers told us that we were being arrested for “disorderly conduct,” and “assulating a police officer” as they made us stand out in the bitter Iowa cold without our coats, awaiting transport to the Polk County Jail.

We spent approximatelyn five hours in jail before finally being released on $300 bail each, which was paid by generous supporters. The two of us, and one other protester named Bryan were eventually charged with “Interference with Official Acts.” What is so official about a known Hate Group lobbying the government to instituted more of their brand of hate is yet to be determined.

Due to an outpouring of community support, we did not have to pay bail out of our truly empty pockets. Heaven works two jobs along with a plethora of side hustles. Heather has one part time job that allows her to spend time at the Capitol Building as much as possible but the lack of income also creates a struggle to make her ends meet.

All of the above taken into consideration, we humbly ask for your help in any amount to aid in paying attorneys fees. Our first court date is February 13, 2025 at 1:00 in the Polk County Courthouse. Though this is a “Simple Misdemeanor”, we both intend to challenge these charges in jury trials, as we did nothing wrong. We stood our ground as Peaceful, though Vocal, protesters and had every right to do so under the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

This extreme policing of the population is an attempt to scare citizens. A terrified populace does not rise up. This is absolutely the desire of the Trump and Reynolds regimes. Please help us fight back.

Any and all help is appreciated