HUNDREDS DEMAND OBAMA END AFGHAN AND IRAQ WARS, CLOSE GUANTANAMO AND BAGRAM, SURGE SPENDING ON HOUSING AND JOBS,
61 ARRESTED AT THE WHITE HOUSE
Secret Service roughly remove 23 peace activists who were waiting to meet with Obama.
For Immediate Release: October 5, 2009
Contact: Frida Berrigan, 347-683-4928, frida.berrigan@gmail.com
Jeremy Varon, 732-979-3119, Jvaron@aol.com
Washington – As the U.S. led war in Afghanistan begins its ninth year this week, 61 were arrested bringing a strong message to the White House that war, torture and drone bombing are outrageous, unacceptable and must end immediately. National anti-war groups and people from around the country joined together to say “No to War in Afghanistan. No to Torture and Vengeance.”
The day opened with a “Guantanamo prisoner” presence at the U.S. Supreme Court as Justice Sonia Sotomayor begins her tenure on the country's highest court. The group distributed the Center for Constitutional Rights' “Torture Team” baseball cards and had four large puppet heads of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice—all dressed in prison stripes as they called for accountability for the architects of the Bush administration's torture policies.
Then, hundreds of people gathered this morning in McPherson Square for song, poetry and rousing speeches to kick off a day of action. Led by the “Mourn the dead, heal the wounded, end the wars” banner, those gathered then marched to the White House in a solemn procession, carrying large photographs of war victims, signs and banners.
The group assembled on the sidewalk in front of the White House and Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey Sheehan was killed in Iraq in 2004 while serving in the U.S. Army, read a statement and welcome the group, which by this time had grown to more than 500 people.
As the “March of the Dead” wound through the crowd wearing white masks and carrying the names of dead U.S. service people and Iraqi and Afghan war victims, more than 20 people dressed at Guantanamo prisoners assembled near the White House fence. Members of “Witness Against Torture,” a group committed to the shuttering of Guantanamo and the quickly enlarging Bagram air base in Afghanistan, many chained themselves to the fence. On their backs, they wore the names of Guantanamo detainees cleared for release who remain detained under the Obama administration despite the White House's heralded decision to shutter the prison.
The group read the names of those killed in war and newspaper accounts of U.S. bombings and their devastating consequences in Afghanistan and Iraq. Code Pink, World Can't Wait and many others also participated in the day of action. Veterans for Peace carried large American and peace flags and processed with three coffins representing those killed in war. Each coffin was draped with a flag—America, Iraq and Afghanistan all represented. Members of the War Resisters League held a large banner than said “End the War in Afghanistan” and wore white shrouds emblazoned with the pictures of Afghan civilians.
All those who remained on the White House sidewalk were eventually arrested. In total, 61people were taken into police custody as the readings of the names of the dead—a tragic litany of war—continued.
Meanwhile, the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, the group that convened the day of action, and members of PeaceAction left the area to deliver a letter to the Obama Administration. Rebuffed at the press gate, the group held a die-in and read statements. The U.S. Park Police were preparing to arrest these twenty four activists. However, the Secret Service without warning forcefully pushed and pulled them from the area near the press gate. A number of people were bruised and all were shaken by the Secret Service's aggressiveness.
The protests today send a strong message that Americans are sick of war, gravely concerned that the Afghan conflict is spinning out of control and hopeful that the President will listen to the American public and end the occupation. Continuing—and surging—Bush era policies means more American deaths, more civilian casualties, an intensified insurgency and the further waste of precious resources that are so badly needed at home.
The October 5 Anti-War Coalition includes National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, the War Resisters League, Witness Against Torture, Code Pink, Peace Action, World Can't Wait, Veterans for Peace and Voices for Creative Nonviolence
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October 5, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kevin Martin, 301-537-8244 (mobile)
Paul Kawika Martin, 951-217-7285 (mobile)
NON-VIOLENT PEACE DEMONSTRATORS BRUTALIZED
BY SECRET SERVICE AT WHITE HOUSE TODAY
Activists had sought a meeting with the Obama Administration to urge an end to the war in Afghanistan
Washington, D.C. - Twenty-three non-violent peace activists calling for an end to the US war in Afghanistan were violently pushed and dragged away from a White House gate by Secret Service officers this afternoon. The activists, participating in a larger demonstration of over 5 00 people organized by the National Campaign for Non-Violent Resistance, had sent a letter to President Obama last month requesting a meeting today to discuss their opposition to the war.
After a non-violent "die-in" at the White House gate, the peace activists waited for over three hours while various police departments, including the Washington, DC Metro Police, Park Police and Secret Service, gave conflicting stories about whether the activists would be arrested or not, the group's request to meet with someone from the Administration having been summarily rebuffed by White House guards.
Suddenly, with no warning and with dozens of other police officers watching, a group of about a dozen Secret Service officers swooped in to push and drag the protesters, who included a number of retirees, away from the White House gate and outside a police perimeter that had been established in the normally public area in front of the White House.
"I wonder how the officers who brought a grandmother to tears with their completely unnecessary, harsh use of force will explain how their day went when they go home to their families at the end of their shift," asked Kevin Martin, Executive Director of Peace Action. Martin was shoved hard in the back by two Secret Service officers, causing him to fall into National Campaign for Non-Violent Resistance Co-convener Joy First, a grandmother from Wisconsin. First was roughed up by several officers and was still in tears twenty minutes after the incident.
"Clearly, the Obama Administration, which has increased the violence in Afghanistan with its escalation of troop earlier this year, would rather have Secret Service thugs rough up peace activists than to engage in a dialogue with us about Afghanistan," said Martin. Paul Kawika Martin (no relation), Peace Action's Policy Director, had just returned from a citizens' peacemaker delegation to Afghanistan organized by the peace group Code Pink. "But we will not be deterred, and the American people have turned decidedly against this war. We call on Obama to meet with us to discuss Afghanistan and apologize for the brutality of the White House police force, and to begin briging US troops home so the people of Afghanistan can resolve their country's problems."
Peace Action is the country's largest peace and disarmament group with over 100,000 members nationwide. www.peace-action.org
The National Campaign for Non-Violent Resistance has worked for peace in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002. http://www.iraqpledge.org/