Hundreds attend King celebration at Capitol

Associated Press

Updated: Jan 21, 2013 5:36 PM

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The widow of a leader in the Milwaukee civil rights movement of the 1960s says anyone who tries to curtail union rights is not following the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr.

The comments of Margaret Rozga, the widow of Father James Groppi, came during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration at the state Capitol.

Gov. Scott Walker sat just feet away from Rozga as she said anyone who tries to curtail collective bargaining rights of workers or suppresses the right to vote "doesn't stand with us."

Her comments drew cheers from the audience of hundreds in the Capitol.

Rozga's comments were in apparent reference to Walker's proposals curbing public workers collective bargaining rights and requiring photo identification at the polls.

Walker later read an MLK Day proclamation.

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