Until Monday, it seemed the administration of Gov. Scott Walker was not cracking under the pressure.

Then, in an unprecedented move, the doors of the Wisconsin State Capitol were closed. Locked. On a Monday morning. On the day before the state’s biggest budget announcement of the century.

Shut out were thousands who came to Madison to speak to their representatives, attend legislative hearings or simply have their voices heard.

It was not immediately clear where the decision came from. Our staff tried to find out why people were not being allowed in, when they would be allowed in and who was responsible for keeping them out. Several officers stationed in and around the Capitol would not tell a series of Badger Herald reporters what was going on.

Spokespeople offered contradictory reports and ignored media requests from multiple organizations.

The Department of Administration, which oversees the Capitol Police and is headed by Walker-appointed Secretary Mike Huebsch, seems to have been the organization that made the call to close the doors to the public.

DOA spokesperson Carla Vigue told The New York Times Monday protesters who remained in the Capitol Sunday night were not cooperating with police orders, and that additional protesters would not be allowed in on Monday until that happened. She went on to explain that she was “not at liberty” to discuss exactly how the protesters inside the Capitol disobeyed orders.

If someone in Huebsch’s office had any just reason to keep protesters out, they should have been screaming from the mountaintops.

So, in summation: Republicans close doors to opposition by locking down the Capitol. Nobody gives a good reason why. Meanwhile, thousands of protesters stand idly by, trying to figure out how to stay organized when their main rallying point – the rotunda of the Capitol – is no longer accessible to them.

Despite the fact that a small number of people were being allowed into the building late Monday, the decision was, at best, a revolting attempt to slow the protests, and at worst, a violation of the Wisconsin Constitution, which prohibits the Legislature from denying anyone access to the Capitol when meetings are going on.

We call on Walker to reopen the Capitol to a group of people he talks about a lot: the taxpayers of Wisconsin.