A BLACK US legislator has been arrested and forcibly removed from the Georgia State Capitol after she tried to get into the governor’s office. 

Republican Governor Brian Kemp was signing a sweeping overhaul of state election law on Thursday, including new restrictions on postal voting and greater legislative control of how elections are run, when Democratic state Representative Park Cannon sought entry.

Voting rights groups say that the legislation will disproportionately disenfranchise voters of colour and have filed a legal challenge.

It is part of a wave of election Bills introduced by state administrations after Donald Trump falsely claimed that his 2020 presidential election defeat was the result of fraud.

Ms Cannon was arrested by Capitol police amid a protest after knocking on the door of the governor’s office while he made live-streamed remarks about the new law.

Video captured by a bystander shows her handcuffed with her arms behind her back as she is removed from the Capitol by two officers, one on each arm. 

Ms Cannon was charged with felony obstruction of law enforcement, punishable by one to five years in prison, and disrupting a session of the general assembly. 

She was released late on Thursday night.