Several Texas state House Democrats plan to rip up the written agreements that allowed them to leave the chamber with a police escort on Monday and return to the House floor Tuesday night, the caucus announced.

Democratic state Representative Nicole Collier spent the night in the Texas Capitol building rather than agree to a police monitor that is part of a contentious partisan struggle over redrawing voting districts to keep the national House of Representatives in Republican hands.

A trio of Texas Democrats slept overnight Monday in the statehouse instead of traveling home with a mandated law enforcement escort ordered by the Republican leadership.

Republicans in the Texas House forced returning Democrats to around-the-clock surveillance by state Department of Public Safety officers to leave the floor.

Democratic Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier has now spent over 24 hours on the Texas House floor in protest after refusing a Republican demand to be placed under the watch of the state Department of Public Safety.

House Speaker Dustin Burrows said Monday that Democrats who previously left the state could not leave the chamber unless they agreed to having a DPS escort. Collier refused one and must remain in the chamber.

Police were on hand to ensure a family of swans crossing a major road completed their journey safely. Essex Police received reports about a pair of adults with four cygnets swanning around on the A131 Regiment Way, Chelmsford.