The Madison City Hall protest over Corey Ruiz took a dramatic turn Monday night when demonstrators brought ladders and scaled the side of the building, hanging banners across its facade as a crowd gathered below.

The action closed out a mass mobilization organized by Freedom Inc., which had begun earlier at the Wisconsin State Capitol before moving through downtown Madison.

What Happened at the Building

The climbers were a small group within a much larger demonstration. Once up, they hung signs carrying a blunt message: “Arrest the Killer Cop.”

Beneath the slogan was something more practical. The signs also displayed the phone number for the Dane County District Attorney’s Office, effectively converting the banner into a call to action for anyone reading it from the street.

Others on the ground threw balloons filled with red liquid at the building, leaving marks across the exterior.

The Demands

Freedom Inc. organized the mobilization around three specific asks, all connected to the shooting death of Corey Ruiz.

• The arrest of the police officer involved in Ruiz’s death
• Changes to how policing is funded in the city
• A civilian oversight board with meaningful authority over the Madison Police Department

The targeting of City Hall rather than a police facility was itself part of the message. Organizers directed their anger at the institution that sets budgets and appoints oversight structures, not only at the department.

Why City Hall

Demonstrator Hope Vang articulated the reasoning behind the location.

She said the building itself carries blood on its hands, arguing that decisions made inside have ended lives without anyone facing consequences. The community, she said, is demanding accountability.

That framing explains the choice of the district attorney’s phone number on the banners. The protesters are not simply expressing grief. They are pressing a specific office to file charges.

The Larger Context

The mobilization started at the State Capitol, a deliberate route that connected state-level political power to city governance before arriving at the building where local decisions get made.

Freedom Inc. has been organizing around police accountability in Madison for years, and Monday’s action reflected an escalation in tactics, moving from marches and rallies to physical occupation of a government building’s exterior.

Whether that escalation produces the response organizers want now rests largely with the Dane County District Attorney’s Office, which will decide whether charges follow the investigation into Ruiz’s death.