[antiwar-van] For Imm Rls: May 18 Emergency Picket Against Extension of Afghanistan Occupation

[Kira Koshelanyk]

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

NEWS ITEM
For Immediate Release
May 18, 2006

****************
Emergency Protest Picket Action
Thursday May 18

--Press Conference--
12:30pm

--Protest Picket--
12:45-1:30pm
****************

Press Contact:
Kira Koshelanyk - 778.881.6156


Emergency Protest Picket Action Targets
Armed Forces Recruitment Center:

Canada Out of Afghanistan!  End the Occupation Now!
Call for an Independent Public Inquiry Into
the Canadian War Drive in Afghanistan!

On May 17 a vote in the House of Commons was passed to extend Canada's
military occupation of Afghanistan by two years to 2009. Mobilization
Against War & Occupation (MAWO), the lower mainland antiwar coalition,
is responding by picketing the Canadian Armed Forces Recruitment
Center in opposition to the occupation and this extension. The picket
will begin with a press conference in front of the Recruitment Center
at 12:30pm.

The picket also follows the death of another Canadian soldier in the
Afghanistan mission, 26-year old Capt. Nichola Goddard from Alberta.

"The events of May 17 showed the crisis of this occupation. The
government of Canada is ramming through a two-year extension of the
mission while public opposition to the occupation of Afghanistan by
Canada is growing. The deadly, destructive and war-making character of
this mission was shown with the death of Capt Nichola Goddard in a gun
battle in Kandahar yesterday morning." Said Kira Koshelanyk, Co-chair
of Mobilization Against War & Occupation. "We are calling for an
Independent Public Inquiry into this occupation. $4.1billion of
taxpayers money has been spent on this mission since 2001 with nothing
to show for it but death and destruction for Afghan people and the
young people from Canada who are being sent to kill and be killed
overseas. We are demanding 'Canada Out of Afghanistan!' and 'Bring the
Troops Home Now!'"

-30-

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