TOPEKA (KSNT) – On Friday morning, law enforcement apprehended the leader of a satanic group, alongside several others, at the Kansas Statehouse. These individuals were there either to partake in or oppose a “Black Mass” ritual.

In the statehouse rotunda, officers subdued Michael Stewart, the president of the Satanic Grotto, on Friday, March 28, as he attempted to conduct a Black Mass. He had entered the premises to perform the ceremony despite being advised by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly to relocate the event outside. An officer informed Stewart upon his arrival at the Kansas Statehouse that while he could enter the building, organizing an event or causing a disturbance would result in his arrest.

Stewart had initiated the Black Mass inside the rotunda when a counterprotester engaged in a physical confrontation with him. Officers were observed pinning Stewart to the ground as he declared he was not resisting. Ultimately, he was removed from the site, exclaiming, “Hail Satan. I dedicate this building to Satan.”

Stewart was arrested on charges of unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct, according to the Shawnee County Department of Corrections. The Kansas Highway Patrol reports the other individual who was involved in the physical altercation with Stewart was also arrested in addition to a handful of others present at the Kansas Statehouse on Friday.

“The point of the Black Mass was to… just to show our space in the public circle,” Stewart said on the south side of the Kansas Statehouse prior to the incident within the building. “To express our feelings and our hurt that’s come from past traumas and really to give voice to our community in the public square here.”

Dozens of Catholics and other Christians gathered at the Kansas Statehouse to protest the planned Black Mass. Both Kansas lawmakers and the Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City condemned the Black Mass in the days leading up to Friday, allegedly due to the anti-Catholic nature of the ceremony.

“We came here just for this because we feel its important for us to stand up and show that God is real, Jesus is alive, the powers of evil need to be protested against and we’re here just to glorify God,” said Kent Van Amburg, a Catholic from St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church in Gladstone, Missouri.

Protesters and Satanists spent Friday morning rallying outside the Kansas Statehouse on its south side. A large number of officers with the KHP and Capitol Police were present at the event.

27 News is reaching out to law enforcement to determine what, if any, charges are being brought against other individuals involved in this incident. More information will be added here or in a future article as it becomes available.

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