PROVIDENCE -- You've got an issue. And you want to sound a clarion call for it outside the State House as lawmakers hand over a difficult state budget to the governor's pen.

But about the sound system involved: Don't use a bullhorn for that clarion call -- unless you've got a permit first.

An organization called People to End Homelessness, ahead of a demonstration this afternoon at the State House, put out a news release saying one of its members, Catherine Rhodes, was arrested yesterday afternoon outside the State House and taken to the state police Lincoln barracks.

"I think they did not like what I had to say so they wanted to silence me," Rhodes said in the statement, which immediately transitioned to criticize the budget the General Assembly has approved as "balanced on the backs of those less fortunate in our state."

But Capitol Police Chief William Habershaw said no, it was simply a matter of Providence ordinance: bullhorns fall under devices for which people must obtain a city permit.

Habershaw said the police report stated an officer asked Rhodes, who was using the bullhorn, if she had a permit. She replied she did not need one and continued yelling through the bullhorn, according to the report.

The officer told her again to cease but she again used the bullhorn, according to the police. The officer told her conduct was disorderly and asked her two more times to stop, police said.

She told the officer she was going to move away a bit and continue to use the bullhorn. The police said she was given another chance to leave.

"We don't want to arrest anybody," Habershaw said, but "you've got to have a permit to use an electronic device."

This afternoon, a male protester with a bullhorn was seen under arrest outside the State House.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Steve Peoples of the Journal State House Bureau