[antiwar-van] For Imm Rls: Antiwar Picket Targets Recruitment Ctr (April 13, Vancouver)

[Kira Koshelanyk]

Mobilization Against War & Occupation (MAWO)
info at mawovancouver.org | www.mawovancouver.org |
604.322.1764

NEWS ITEM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 13th 2006

Press Contacts: Shannon Bundock 778 891 1470 and Kira
Koshelanyk

778 881 6156

::PRESS CONFERENCE::

THURSDAY APRIL 13 2005
12:30PM
Canadian Forces Recruitment Centre
(1070 W. Georgia St)

Featured Speakers:

Lisa Barrett: Councilor & Former Mayor of Bowen Island
Code Pink Women for Peace Local Organizer

Kelly White: Coast Salish Elder, Indigenous Media
Activist with Kla How Yah FM (CO-OP Radio 102.7FM),
Indigenous Peace Activist

Shannon Bundock: Co-Chair of Mobilization Against War
and Occupation (MAWO)

::PICKET ACTION::

TUES JAN 17th 2005
12:45PM - 1:30PM
Canadian Forces Recruitment Center
(1070 W. Georgia St)

Anti-War Picketers target Canadian Forces Recruitment
Centre in wake of phony parliamentary debate and more
deaths in Afghanistan, demanding: CANADA OUT OF
AFGHANISTAN! CALL FOR AN INDEPENDENT PUBLIC INQUIRY
INTO THE CANADIAN WAR DRIVE!

On Thursday April 13 antiwar protesters in Vancouver
will gather for the tenth time in as many months in
front of the Canadian Armed Forces Recruitment Center
in downtown Vancouver to protest Canada's deadly
occupation of Afghanistan. The Lower Mainland�s
Anti-War coalition Mobilization Against War &
Occupation (MAWO) will be holding a press conference
to begin the picket in order to protest this week's
non-binding parliamentary "debate" on the
Afghanistan mission as false.

Another tragic episode in Canada's occupation of
Afghanistan occurred on Tuesday when a missile
explosion killed 7 children and injured 34 others in a
schoolyard in Adamabad, Afghanistan.

"The murder of 7 innocent children at school just
one day after the so-called parliamentary 'debate'
shows that Monday�s debate meant only the
continuation of death and destruction - for people
in Canada and for those 7 kids and all people in
Afghanistan," said MAWO Co-Chair Shannon Bundock.

The war drive in Afghanistan escalated even further on
Wednesday April 12, the very next day, as the US-led
occupation forces in Afghanistan launched "Operation
Mountain Lion" swarming the area with 2,500
occupation troops and carrying out some of the
heaviest air strikes in Afghanistan since the invasion
of 2001.

The so-called parliamentary "debate" on Canada's
occupation of Afghanistan rang especially hollow for
people in Canada who saw that not a single voice in
the entire government opposed the deployment of 2,000
troops to Afghanistan.

Real opposition to Canada's occupation of
Afghanistan is audible in the streets of Vancouver.
Shannon Bundock explained MAWO's call for an
Independent Public Inquiry in response to the
parliamentary "debate". "We say 'no thanks'
to their non-binding debates held AFTER the deed is
done. They had the chance to debate it openly and vote
on it and it wasn't done. That is why MAWO is
calling for an Independent Public Inquiry, independent
of the government, to find out the real reason why
Canada's troops are sent to kill and being killed in
Afghanistan."

MAWO has pledged to return to picket in front of the
Canadian Forces Recruitment Centre whenever a major
publicly released tragedy strikes in Canada's
occupation of Afghanistan. Today's picket is
MAWO's FIFTH picket action since the 2,000 Canadian
troop deployment was completed on February 28th of
this year. MAWO organizers expect to return many more
times as Canada's war drive in Afghanistan
increases.

-30-

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