Some 200 Chicagoans returned home after spending a week in Washington D.C. participating in the Take Back the Capitol protests. The group returning from the nation's capitol was part of the Stand Up! Chicago coalition, a group of community organizations and labor unions, along with some members of the Occupy Chicago movement. The group left early in the morning last Monday with a stated goal of "send[ing] a message to Congress that our representatives need to stand up for the needs of the 99% by creating jobs, extending unemployment benefits, raising taxes on the rich, and rejecting budget cuts to essential services," according to a Stand Up! Chicago press release.

The week of action consisted of several marches, sit-ins, and rallies aimed at getting the attention of some of the nation's most notorious congressmen. As Progress Illinois reported last week, the protesters occupied the offices of 99 members of Congress, calling on them to stop pandering to the interests of the nation's wealthiest individuals and corporations and focus on creating jobs. Five Illinois legislators were part of the 99 congressmen protested against that day, including U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh (R-8).

“I went with a lot of other unemployed people to (Representative) Joe Walsh’s office to tell him my story,” said Andy Gebel, an IT professional who has been without employment for over two years. “He agreed to listen to me for a couple of minutes behind closed doors, but that was it. Then he ran down the back stairs so he wouldn’t have to listen to anyone else. He just didn’t want to hear it.” Click here to see Walsh's escape and read about other attempts to run and hide by Illinois congressmen.

Outside of D.C.-based protesters, Chicago had the largest delegation of ralliers present and played a substantial role in the week's events. According to Stand Up! Chicago, members of the group served as crowd control, marshals, and police and led many of the week's marches.

“We have gained a lot of experience recently in organizing and facilitating very large protests,” explained organizer Jorrie Harper. “We had thousands of protesters occupy the street in front of the Art Institute’s Modern Wing in October, and on November 17, we had another large action on the LaSalle Street Bridge.”

On Wednesday, the group helped steer a major protest targeting corporate welfare that ended up overtaking K Street, shutting down a major intersection for more than two hours.

“We went to protest at Verizon, but they were so scared of us that they had their doors locked and barricaded,” said Emily Henkels, an unemployed recent college grad. “So we continued onto K Street.”

K Street was a significant protest location due to the substantial number of corporate lobbyists that are housed on that street. Sixty-two protesters were arrested that day including, Chicagoan Rev. C.J. Hawking.

“I was willing to risk arrest because I know how many people are suffering in this economy,” Rev. C.J. Hawking said. “It’s essential that Congress start listening to the needs of the 99% and helping families by creating jobs, instead of giving corporate welfare to the big banks that destroyed our economy.”

Here's more from the K Street protest:

On Thursday, 99 unemployed Americans, including several from Chicago, went to the offices of House Speaker John Boehner to demand that legislators focus on addressing the nation's jobs crisis. Thousands of additional protesters rallied outside the Speaker's office building, while those inside were met with locked doors and unanswered knocks.

Nonetheless, the protesters are they are pleased with the week of action, saying that members of Congress will only be able to run and hide for so long.

“The fact that they chose to hide shows that they know they’re not standing up for our interests,” said Shani Smith, an underemployed protester whose family home is facing foreclosure. “But I feel inspired by the experience because so many people came together to speak out for the 99%. Our representatives can’t continue to hide from us if we join together.”

Images & Video: Stand Up! Chicago