[Onthebarricades] US peace protests

[Andy]

NOTE:  Photo gallery from LA anti-war protest here:
http://ringospictures.com/index.php?page=20080315

The Holy Name 6 are facing trumped-up charges for an anti-war protest. 
Legal defence donations via Paypal to:
holyname6 -AT- riseup -DOT- net

*   Protests across America mark Iraq war anniversary; 32 arrested in 
blockade of IRS in Washington
*   In San Francisco, protesters stage mass die-ins in the road
*   Berkeley protesters target Marines recruitment; 2 arrested as protesters 
surround police
*   Couple put up protest sign to attract attention to Iraq war
*   Iran war protest greets Clinton
*   Atlanta grannies continue anti-war protests
*   Protesters form human wall to stop arrests at Santa Barbara anti-war 
protest
*   Protest in Senate gallery - 10 arrests
*   Macalester protesters close down recruitment centre
*   In Portland, police pepper-spray protesters during anti-recruitment demo
*   Dockers to shut down port in anti-war protest on Mayday
*  16 arrested in counter-recruitment protest in Minnesota
*   March in Manhattan
*   New York recruitment office bombed
*   Chicago peace protesters hold die-in at Holy Name church
*   Protest against war and oil profits targets Chevron
*   War anniversary protests in Connecticut

Publicly Archived at Global Resistance: 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance


http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1649769

More arrested in antiwar protests
Mar 20, 2008 10:42 PM

More than 200 people were arrested across the United States as protesters 
marking the fifth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq obstructed downtown 
traffic and tried to block access to government offices.

There were 32 arrests in Washington after demonstrators attempted to block 
entrances to the Internal Revenue Service, while 30 others were arrested 
outside a congressional office building, police said.
Protesters had hoped to shut down the IRS, the U.S. tax collection agency, 
to highlight the cost of the war. Police cleared the building's entrances 
within an hour.

In San Francisco, long a centre of anti-Iraq war sentiment, police arrested 
more than 100 people who protested through the day along Market Street in 
the central business district, a spokesman said.

Sergeant Steve Maninna said officers had arrested 143 people on charges 
including trespassing, resisting arrest and obstructing traffic.

Four women were also detained for hanging a large banner off the city's 
famous Golden Gate Bridge and then released, said bridge spokeswoman Mary 
Currie.

On Washington's National Mall, about 100 protesters carried signs that read: 
"The Endlessness Justifies the Meaninglessness" and waved upside-down US 
flags, a traditional sign of distress.

"Bush and Cheney, leaders failed, Bush and Cheney belong in jail," they 
chanted, referring to US President George Bush and Vice President Dick 
Cheney.

One hour after the IRS standoff, several dozen protesters waved signs that 
read: "Stop Paying to Kill" and "How Much Longer?" as a ragtag brass band 
played. IRS employees were easily able to enter the building.

"We wanted to put our bodies between the money and what that money goes to 
fund -- the war, the occupation, the bombs," said Frida Berrigan, an 
organizer with the War Resisters League.

The war has cost the United States $500 billion since the invasion to topple 
Saddam Hussein began in March 2003 and is a major issue in November's US 
presidential election. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed and 
millions more displaced, with almost 4,000 US soldiers killed.

Blocking traffic
Later, scores of noisy protesters blocked a busy intersection in 
Washington's business district. They picketed in front of the offices of The 
Washington Post and threw red paint on the building that houses the Examiner 
newspaper and Bechtel National Inc, which has handled major reconstruction 
projects in Iraq.

In New York, about 30 members of the "Granny Peace Brigade" gathered in 
Times Square, knitting in hand, to demand troops be brought home now.

"We're out here to show people that this war is madness. We never should 
have gotten into this war in the first place," said Shirley Weiner, 80.

Police in Boston arrested five people who blocked access to a military 
recruitment centre by lying on a sidewalk dressed as slain Iraqi civilians, 
an Iraqi mourner, a slain U.S. soldier and an American citizen in mourning.

"We went to this military recruiting station today because we want to see 
the war end immediately," said activist Joe Previtera in a statement. 
"Silently waiting for Congress to act on this war in 2009 will condemn 
thousands more people to injury and senseless death. Enough is enough."

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5glBSs69Q1lYEffFXjw8Sf4XMK8lQ

Protests in US mark Iraq war anniversary
Mar 19, 2008
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Protesters on Wednesday launched sit-ins and marches 
across the United States as they marked five years of war in Iraq, demanding 
an immediate withdrawal of US soldiers.
Police in Washington arrested 33 people in front of entrances to the 
Internal Revenue Service, organizers and local media reported, as 
demonstrators sought to focus attention on taxpayers' money that bankrolls 
the deployment of about 158,000 troops in Iraq.
"This war needs to end and it needs to end now," Leslie Cagan, national 
coordinator of United for Peace and Justice, told AFP. "I think people are 
looking for new ways to express their opposition."
Anti-war groups planned other acts of civil disobedience throughout the US 
capital, seeking to disrupt traffic against "war profiteers" on K Street, 
known as the home of Washington's corporate lobbyists.
Demonstrators were targeting government agencies, lawmakers, oil companies 
and "corporate media" who they accuse of promoting and sustaining the war, 
organizers said in a statement.
"It's really time we end this occupation force and start making amends," 
said Rachel Payne, 19, who joined a small demonstration in front of the 
American Petroleum Institute not far from the White House.
As protesters banged drums with police looking on, Payne held up a sign 
reading "What's our exit strategy?"
Hundreds of protest events were planned nationwide, including vigils and 
larger rallies in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami.
The demonstrations come as the death toll of US soldiers approaches 4,000 in 
a war that remains unpopular among American voters.
Although attendance at anti-war demonstrations has declined in recent years, 
organizers of Wednesday's events said they were confident of attracting 
large crowds to the marches.
Public disapproval of the war has yet to translate into massive waves of 
street demonstrations in the United States like those seen during the 
Vietnam war.
While the war remains unpopular, with a majority of Americans calling the 
decision to invade a mistake, public opinion is divided over when to 
withdraw the US soldiers deployed in Iraq.
The demonstrations come after a new poll for British television showed more 
than two-thirds of Iraqis believe US-led coalition forces should leave.
In New York, protesters from the Granny Peace Brigade were to hold a 
"knit-in" at the Times Square military recruitment center that was targeted 
in a home-made bomb attack earlier this month.
The grandmothers were to knit stump socks for amputee veterans and baby 
blankets for Iraqi families.
"We grannies hope to highlight our message demanding an end to this useless 
and catastrophic war," said Barbara Walker, 74, among the group's members 
arrested when they tried to enlist in the military in 2005.
In Chicago, a rally and protest march was to be held in the central business 
district while in Louisville, Kentucky protestors will read aloud the names 
of some of the nearly 4,000 US troops killed and the Iraqi civilians killed 
and displaced.
Protestors in Dallas, Texas will perform skits, play music and hear Iraq 
veterans speak against the war on the grassy knoll overlooking the plaza 
where president John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Some 4,000 empty T-shirts will be strung along a street in Cincinnati, Ohio 
to memorialize the US soldiers killed.
On the west coast, the focal point of protests in Los Angeles will be a 
military recruitment center in the heart of Hollywood, said the ANSWER 
coalition, or Act Now To Stop War And End Racism. The demonstration follows 
a weekend rally where about 2,000 people marched to protest the war.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_8626408?nclick_check=1

Iraq War anniversary protest heats up in San Francisco, Berkeley
Staff Reports
Article Launched: 03/19/2008 01:03:47 PM PDT

A demonstrator is arrested for blocking the intersection of Market and... 
(Karl Mondon/Staff)

6:53 p.m. - Thousands of protestors have shut down traffic between McAlister 
and Van Ness and Market streets. They are staging die-ins; a big group lying 
down on the sidewalk representing those killed in the war.
A marching band is passing through and inviduals with megaphones are yelling 
chants about the freeing of Palestine. One of main chants is, "No blood for 
oil. U.S. off Arab soil."
Kylee Cronin, 18, said a year ago today her friend committed suicide rather 
than being deployed to Iraq, His partner had a child and died and now Cronin 
is raising that 6-month-child.
There is a huge line of riot police walking along Market Street.
People piled onto the hood of a Veterans for Peace truck, caused near misses 
for people on foot and bicycles and wheelchairs.
----------------------
6:15 p.m. - No one has started marching yet, but as many as 20 police 
officers in riot gear have arrived to separate protesters in Civic Center 
Plaza from about two dozen representatives from College Republican groups 
based at local campuses.
The police have formed two lines in front of City Hall to separate 
protesters in the plaza from the groups from University of California, San 
Francisco, San Francisco State University and University of California, 
Berkeley.
Before police arrived, the groups were shouting at each other across the 
street, but now each side is standing peacefully.
----------------------
5:40 p.m. - The crowd from Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco is going to 
take off down Mission Street in about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, the crowd continues to grow in the plaza. Groups holdings signs 
reading ``The Irish Against the War, A Vigil for Peace'' mingle with 
representatives form the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. Small dogs 
wear shirts reading, ``Pups for peace.''
The College Republicans from San Francisco State University are there, too, 
standing on the outskirts of the plaza and carrying an American flag and 
signs in support of the troops.
Catherine Savvides, 21, an international student from the Mediterranean 
studying at San Francisco State University, said she thinks the entire world 
is against this war.
``Bush needs to be impeached,'' she said, ``and we need to stop the 
government from being a terrorist nation.''
San Francisco police said some 143 people were arrested today, and two 
protesters shouted to a reporter that they saw a caravan earlier today 
taking away a busload of arrestees.
John Friedberg, 63, of San Francisco, says he's been protesting since the 
Vietnam War.
``This is Vietnam 2, the sequel,'' he said, ``only now the hole in the 
ground is bigger and deeper.''
----------------------
5:10 p.m. - Colorful crowds of nearly 1,000 are flocking from BART trains 
and neighborhood streets for a massive protest at San Francisco's Civic 
Center.
People such as Simon Hyatt, 22, and his friends, all students at Sacramento 
City College, have spent the day on Amtrak and public transportation to be a 
part of the march.
Hyatt carries a sign that he said represents the steps toward a totalitarian 
regime in the U.S. It reads, ``Secret prisons, fear, torture, lies and wire 
taps.''
Police in riot gear are surrounding the crowd and stage in a chilly Civic 
Center Plaza, and several helicopters are circling overhead.
Everyone is screaming in response to speakers calling out, ``Are we ready to 
stop this war?''
Chris Morris, 29, of San Francisco, and his young son, both adorned in 
reggae clothing, have been dancing all day to get their voices heard.
``People need to understand that we're at an important place in history and 
we need to make a choice to respect one another,'' he said, ``not die for 
the wealth of others.''
----------------------
2:30 p.m. - Looks like it's about all over. For the last 10 minutes, San 
Francisco police officers have been arresting members of the group on Market 
Street dressed like Iraqi prisoners in orange jump suits and black hoods.
Officers used a power saw to cut the chain that was binding them together, 
then escorted the 20 demonstrators one by one to a waiting police bus. 
Unlike the scuffles earlier, the arrests were peaceful.
----------------------
2 p.m. - Among the protestors marking the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War 
in Berkeley was Aaron Taecker-Wyss, 14, a ninth grader at Berkeley High. He 
said he missed five of his classes in order to participate in the protest. 
He said his parents weren't in favor of his missing classes. He received his 
homework assignments in advance and completed them all on Tuesday.
"The main reason I am participating is that I'm really against the war," he 
said. "I don't understand why we continue to kill innocent people and spend 
money on the war, when the only people really benefiting are the rich people 
and the corporations."
Taking part in the march and demonstration is the most he can do, he said. 
Taecker-Wyss said he was 9 years old when the war started and he remembers 
watching it on TV. He recalled that it seemed like a small thing. "It was 
downplayed on the news," he said.
----------------------
1:45 p.m. The arrests of the people lying down on Market Street have been 
completed. But across the street, on the west side of Market, a group of 20 
people, dressed in orange prison jumpsuits and black hoods, are chained 
together. One demonstrator, Kate Rafael, said they are there to represent 
the 20,000 people who have disappeared in Iraq.
"Just because we're not hearing about torture, doesn't mean it's stopped," 
she said.
Nearby, a lone counter-demonstrator held up a hastily made sign that says 
"Thank U SFPD."
The man, who declined to give his last name, said he's from Michigan. "I was 
going shopping, but this caught my eye. It's pretty said. They're wasting 
people's time," he said.
His lone sign drew yells and taunts from the crowd.
----------------------
1:30 p.m. - An antiwar march and demonstration and a counter-demonstration 
has ended peacefully in Berkeley. A crowd of about 60 Iraq War protesters 
from World Can't Wait _ Drive Out the Bush Regime marched from Civil Center 
Park across the street from Old City Hall on Martin Luther King Jr. Way to 
the U.S. Marine Recruiting Center at 65 Shattuck Square in downtown 
Berkeley. Antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son, Casey, a U.S. Army 
soldier who was killed in Iraq, addressed the crowd, which included a number 
of pro-Marine demonstrators carrying American flags. "The Army recruiter 
broke every promise he made to Casey," she said. The recruiter told him he 
could be a chaplain's assistant. He ended up being a Humvee mechanic, she 
said. "My son was forced to into combat five days after he got to Iraq," she 
said. "The war machine will eat you up and spit you out. The war machine 
does not care about you." The Marine recruiting station, which has been the 
subject of protests for six months, is closed today. Berkeley Police Sgt. 
Mary Kusmiss said that 50 officers were called out on overtime to ensure the 
day was peaceful. So far it has been. Among the dozen people carrying 
American flags supporting the Marines was Glenn Palmer, 57, of Sacramento, 
who is retired from the U.S. Army and served two years in Vietnam. "Our 
whole thing is to get the Berkeley City Council and these people off our 
troops," he said. "It's not the military's fault, no matter what you think 
about the war."
----------------------
12:45 p.m. Things are getting more intense. For the last five minutes, San 
Francisco police have been pushing or hitting demonstrators and onlookers 
standing on Market Street back to the sidewalks. Officers have been 
aggressive, using their batons to forcibly return people to the sidewalks.
Meanwhile, about 40 demonstrators remain lying down in the middle of Market 
and it appears that police may be about to arrest them.
As police forcibly shoved onlookers back onto the sidewalk, one protester, 
Mitchell Anderson, 26, stuck a camera in the face of an officer and took a 
photo as the officer shoved him back onto the sidewalk. The officer shoved 
him back into the street, where it appears he may be arrested.
Two girls walking their bicycles across Market were also shoved hard onto 
the sidewalk by police with batons.
----------------------
12:15 p.m. San Francisco Police Sgt. Steve Mannina reports there have 44 
arrests so far, all on misdemeanor charges. Mannina said several were 
arrested at 101 California, 14 at 343 California. All were cited fro 
trespassing and resisting arrest.
At 11 a.m., 12 women and 11 men were arrested for obstructing traffic at 
Third and Market streets, Mannina said.
12:17 p.m. The die-in has begun on Market Street at Montgomery. About 40, 
perhaps 50 people, are lying down in the street. There are about 300 
protesters and onlookers at the scene. Police are leaving them alone for the 
moment.
----------------------
11:50 a.m. As the noon hour approached, protesters continued to speak, using 
a portable sound system. They had nothing good to say about President Bush 
and the Iraq war. "There is no neutral position on this war," said Rebecca 
Solnit. "We are all taking sides every day."
'We, whose story is never told on Fox news, we, whose pictures are never on 
the front pages of your newspapers, we do not support the war," said 
Guillermo Gomez-Pena.
----------------------
11:45 a.m. A noisy protest in San Francisco's financial district and down 
Market Street, marking the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, is 
gathering steam as the noon-hour approaches. The demonstration is centered 
at Market and Montgomery Street. Traffic is deadlocked and police advise 
anyone driving to avoid the area. About 200 demonstrators marched down 
Montgomery Street to Market.
The protest is peaceful, with police standing by quietly.
In Berkeley, the crowd was growing in front of the U.S. Marine Recruiting 
Station on Shattuck Avenue. Activist Cindy Sheehan was expected to speak 
shortly after noon.
So far this morning, the Associated Press reports about a dozen protesters 
have been arrested. Police deployed additional resources in San Francisco's 
financial district to "to help facilitate First Amendment activities or to 
take enforcement action," said Sgt. Steve Mannina. He said a handful of 
people had been arrested, though couldn't pinpoint an exact number.
At the BART station at Market and Montgomery, demonstrators were conducting 
a street theater. One woman, Susan Witka, dressed in pink, said she was from 
Code Pink, the antiwar group. She was carrying a constantly beeping alarm 
clock. "It's time for America to wake up," she said. "We've been at war for 
five years and it seems like America is asleep."
Nearby, protesters have set up a coffin, an American flag and flowers on it, 
with a woman in black sitting beside it holding a mock baby.
Anti-war protester Alex Roselle said protesters hoped to turn the city into 
a "festival of resistance against the Iraq war, the occupation and the 
corporate greed that's been driving it all."
Black balloons were tied to trees along the city's main downtown 
thoroughfare, and protesters at a table offered coffee and oranges and 
"unhappy birthday cake" to passers-by.
"For five years some people have struggled to end the war, and some gave up 
in despair," said Siri Margerin, 56, of San Francisco. "We have to keep 
doing everything and we have to keep doing it all the time."
This report came from MediaNews correspondents Sean Mather and Allison Baca 
and Staff Writers Kristin Bender and Doug Oakley. It is being written by 
Staff Writer William Brand.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8339246

Two arrested in Berkeley Marine recruiting center protest
Contra Costa Times
Article Launched: 02/22/2008 07:41:12 PM PST

BERKELEY -- Two people were arrested Friday after they encircled police 
during a protest of the U.S. Marine recruiting center, a police spokeswoman 
said.
A group called The World Can't Wait -- Drive Out the Bush Regime was 
demonstrating at the downtown center Friday to protest military recruiting 
in Berkeley.
The issue has been in the limelight recently after the City Council last 
month called the recruiters "uninvited and unwelcome intruders."
Police spokeswoman Sgt. Mary Kusmiss said about 20 protesters marched from 
the Marine recruiting center at 64 Shattuck Square to Shattuck Avenue and 
Center Street to rally for their cause.
Two Berkeley police bike officers followed the group to protect the 
community, she said.
At the corner of Shattuck and Center, a protester screamed into a megaphone, 
a violation of a city permit because it was away from the recruiting center, 
where protesters have a sound permit.
Police tried to detain him to talk about the violation, Kusmiss said.
At that point, the crowd surged and surrounded the bike officers and closed 
in on them, she said.
Police called for backup and at least a dozen cars arrived in downtown, 
Kusmiss said.
Kusmiss said officers had to use some force to make the arrests and protect 
their colleagues during the surge. No one was seriously injured although a 
couple of police officers sustained minor injuries, Kusmiss said.
Police arrested Rafael Schiller, 26 of Berkeley, and another man who refused 
to give his name, police said.
Officials from World Can't Wait were not immediately available for comment.
Police said the arrests were for resisting arrest, but the two could also 
face other charges for refusing to give their names and violating the city 
permit.
-- MediaNews

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/02/17/sign_0218.html

Couple takes unexpected journey to protest Iraq war

By MONI BASU
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/18/08
It's just another sign, one that would be unremarkable at an anti-war 
protest.

Pouya Dianat/AJC
(ENLARGE)
Jim and Suzanne Barksdale changed their sign to include a photo of a soldier 
killed and it turned the tide of emotion.

Handcrafted and crudely assembled, the two facing Masonite boards bolted on 
wooden posts bemoan the human cost of the Iraq war.
Only, this sign sits at a luxe Atlanta address on West Paces Ferry Road, a 
few skips from the governor's residence.
The sign rudely interrupts the flow of manicured lawns and winding driveways 
that lead to plush homes. Passers-by do a double take, craning their heads 
to figure out what the sign says.
What they don't know is that its unexpected placement mirrors the unexpected 
journey of the homeowners who erected it.
Jim and Suzanne Barksdale don't have a son or daughter in uniform and will 
never know the personal pride or the acute loss that war can bring.
But in publicly opposing the war, they bucked the norm in their circles and 
discovered there is a price to pay.
Four years ago, the Barksdales moved into their stately home, well-appointed 
with art and antiques, just as their opinions about the war were reshaping 
their emotions about the president they'd helped elect.
It was uncharted territory for the couple.
Jim 54, and Suzanne, 53, were raised in comfortable Atlanta homes and later 
earned degrees at the College of William & Mary in Virginia.
At 18, Jim drew a high draft lottery number. He knew he'd never go to 
Vietnam. The tide of unrest sweeping the nation in the 1960s blew past the 
Barksdales.
Jim built a successful business career and opened his own investment firm. 
Equity Investment Corp. manages more than $450 million in assets.
He considered himself a conservative and voted for Republican candidates, 
including President Bush in 2000. But he soured when the president ordered 
the bombing of Baghdad. Unswayed by the argument that Iraq posed a national 
security threat, he believed that this war was governed by emotions, not 
logic.
He read media reports about an FBI memorandum revealing infiltration of 
anti-war groups and bristled at the thought of fellow Americans being 
arrested for peaceful protests.
"We had always voted. We had always been thinkers," Suzanne said. "But there 
was never this feeling that things were completely off track."
Jim's first public outcry was placing a John Kerry campaign sign on the 
lawn. He stuck an "Impeach Bush" sticker on his car but felt compelled to 
tear it off when conservative clients paid a visit at work.
Such is the discomfort of dissent after one is already settled, after one's 
reputation is known. But Jim could not stay quiet.
"I don't know how we can bring an end to the fraud and deception behind the 
Iraq war. For me, it is that chastisement from the book of James - he who 
knows what is good, but does not do it, has sinned," wrote Jim, a 
churchgoing Baptist, in an e-mail to friends.
He felt he was surrounded by silence on the war. "Here in Buckhead, it's the 
elephant in the room," he said.
He decided to "pinprick the silence" by taking advantage of his tony address 
on a high-traffic road traveled by commuters as well as the curious.
So he posted his message last summer - in the form of a U.S. flag flying at 
half-staff and a large homemade sign.
One side screamed the numbers of U.S. casualties since various milestones of 
the war: the day that America invaded Iraq, when President Bush declared 
"Mission Accomplished," and since the start of the "surge." On the other 
side, Jim pasted a montage of photographs showing American soldiers who had 
lost their lives and the grieving families left behind.
The Barksdales knew that many of their friends and neighbors would object. 
They understood that speaking out could be seen as unpatriotic - even 
treasonous - in a time of war. But they were not prepared for the range of 
emotions their sign elicited.
Several neighbors told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution they supported the 
Iraq war and were put off both by the message and its lack of aesthetics on 
a "nice street." But they respected the Barksdales' right to free expression 
and would never think to undermine it. Mostly, they were curious about why 
the Barksdales put up the sign.
Immediately after it went up, a woman drove up and asked Jim: "Do you have a 
permit for that?"
A few days later, the city of Atlanta's Bureau of Code Compliance sent the 
couple a citation. After effort on Jim's part, the city dropped case No. 
07-0022301. The sign did not require a permit because the city's definition 
of campaign signs includes those that express a position on a public issue.
Legal it was but protected it wasn't. Every week, the sign was vandalized. 
Someone covered it up with their own message: "We [heart] Bush" stuck on 
with bathroom caulk. Others ripped off the photos and yelled at the 
Barksdales when they were outside. One night their yard was trenched. 
Suzanne worried about the family's security.
Then last August, the sign was stolen.
Jim was determined not to be defeated in his own yard. He built another 
sign. This time, he used an enlarged photo of Sgt. Ryan Campbell blowing out 
the candles of his 18th birthday cake. Above it, Jim wrote the words: "The 
cost of acquiescence. Ryan - # 832."
Ryan, of Kirksville, Mo., was the 832nd U.S. casualty in Iraq. He died April 
29, 2004, in a car bombing.
Jim knew Ryan's sister Brooke from her days as a graduate student at Emory 
University. She had actively worked to defeat Bush in 2004 after her 
brother's last e-mail from Iraq, which she published in an AJC article: 
"Just do me a big favor. Don't vote for Bush."
The Barksdales asked Brooke for permission to use Ryan's picture. Last fall, 
Jim put the sign back up. This time, the reaction was different. The 
Barksdales got notes of sympathy in their mailbox. "Today I cried when I 
drove past and saw the picture of Ryan," said one. Another thanked the 
Barksdales for "giving those traveling down West Paces a little reality 
check." Someone left lilies by the sign. And a poinsettia at Christmas. One 
woman baked the couple a cake.
The Barksdales realized that replacing the photo montage with Ryan's smile 
tugged at people's hearts. No matter their views on Iraq, Ryan put a face on 
the statistics.
"Some people think he's our son," Suzanne said. "That makes me feel bad. I 
don't want to mislead people. But I think it's made people less angry. They 
excuse us for being in their face."
A single sign sprouted a range of sentiment.
In the end, it was a small act by the Barksdales. But a bold one for two 
Atlantans who had never protested anything in their lives.
They recognize they may never change anyone's mind. They hope, at least, to 
make people ponder the cost of war as they sail past houses that epitomize 
the American dream.
Wednesday, Jim watched a man take two smaller signs in his yard that say: 
"Stop the Iraq war funding" and then get stuck in the morning rush-hour jam 
on West Paces Ferry.
Jim said he walked down to talk to the stranger. "Why did you steal the 
signs?" he asked.
The man told him he was a soldier who had done three tours of Iraq and said 
he objected to the Barksdales' anti-war message. America is on track in 
Iraq, he said.
"Is this the kind of America you are fighting for, where people can't freely 
express their opinions?" Jim asked.
The soldier contemplated the question and handed back the signs.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/01/632196.aspx

Silent protest at Clinton rally
Posted: Friday, February 01, 2008 7:05 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: 2008, Clinton
>From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
SAN DIEGO, CA -- About 40 minutes into a speech Clinton was delivering in 
front of a huge crowd at San Diego State University, two young men stood up 
and unfurled a red banner that read: "Nepotist tyrant hands off Iran", with 
the senator's picture attached to the middle.
The men had been seated behind Clinton -- and directly across from the press 
riser -- as she spoke and she had her back to them the entire time they were 
standing. She never turned their way and it was unclear whether she was 
aware they were there.
The students stood for several minutes as a handful of Clinton supporters 
came up each side of the aisle to talk to them. Eventually, a man wearing a 
yellow SMART union for Hillary T-shirt snatched the banner from the men. The 
crowd cheered.
The senator did not take questions after the event.
Clinton has been criticized for her vote to call the Iranian Revolutionary 
Guard a terrorist organization, which she has repeatedly said was not a vote 
to authorize force.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/03/18/grandma_0319.html

Grandmothers to protest again Wednesday following arrests

By STEVE VISSER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/18/08
Not many criminals want their names spelled right when booked into jail.

But then Ann Mauney, 65, of Lake Claire and her nine partners in crime 
aren't most criminals.
First, they are older women; mostly grandmothers, who normally would never 
have their mugshots taken.
And, second they wanted to be arrested.
The Atlanta Police arrested the women, ages 57 to 80, for criminal trespass 
on Monday after they converged on the Army recruiting office off of Ponce de 
Leon in Midtown. The women said they were there to enlist and refused to 
leave when they were rejected.
They called themselves "Grandmothers for Peace," a play off "Veterans for 
Peace," whose members will lead a larger protest Wednesday back to the Army 
recruiting station at the Midtown Place Shopping Center to mark the fifth 
anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. They are part of the Georgia Peace 
and Justice Coalition.
The women arrested Monday, who were released on their own recognizance after 
about 10 hours in the booking area of the Fulton County jail, were brought 
together by their opposition to the war. Some, like Mauney are retired 
teachers, others are retired social workers or therapists, and at least two 
claim ties to the armed services.
They said they represented the metro area - from Little Five Points to 
Snellville- and while the Grandmothers for Peace may be more representative 
of the liberal wing of American politics, the war had brought together 
protestors from across party lines.
"There were two Republicans in that group," said Gloria Tatum, 65, of 
Decatur, who was arrested Monday. "We were bipartisan."
The women, who have 26 grandchildren between them, acknowledged that none 
have any children or grandchildren serving in Iraq.
"We consider all young people - including Iraqi children and US soldiers 
sent to kill and be killed in Iraq a- to be our children," said lifelong 
Republican Doris Benit, 80, of Kennesaw. "We believe our young people were 
sent to Iraq on a web of lies and deceit.
"We believe they are being used as cannon fodder in an illegal and 
unjustified war against a nation which posed no threat to us."
They came up with the idea of staging an enlistment stunt , saying they 
wanted to enlist so that a younger soldier could come home. The group feared 
that the public was forgetting about the war.
"We were trying to get media attention," Mauney said Tuesday night. "We are 
very distraught that the Iraq occupation is on the back burner and not on 
the front pages."
Mauney said she believes that many of the enlistees are drawn into the 
service for economic reasons and the promise of big bonuses. She doubted 
that many joined because they believed in the war.
Reminded they could have chosen another branch of service, Mauney said, " 
The Coast Guard doesn't spend as much money on advertising as the Army and I 
think that makes the difference."
The "Grandmothers for Peace" plan a press conference before the coalition's 
larger protest Wednesday that will come during evening rush hour.
On Wednesday, the coalition plans to march back to the Midtown Army 
recruiting station in the Midtown Place Shopping Center, across from City 
Hall East, following five coffins, from the intersection of Freedom Parkway 
at Ponce de Leon at 5 p.m in hope of focusing public attention on the Iraq 
War. The coffins represent what the coalition says is the victims of the 
war: U.S. troops, the Iraqi people, the economy, justice and the truth.
Monday's arrest was the second for Mauney, who said she was arrested in 1970 
in a protest march in Atlanta on behalf sanitation workers. She said another 
of the women had been arrested during a civil rights march in the 1960s.
On Wednesday, she said, the protestors will have a permit to march so they 
won't fear arrest. Their biggest worry will be the weather.
"I'm hearing there will be thunderstorms (Wednesday) and that will determine 
how many people we have," Tatum said. "If we have bad thunder and lighting, 
it may be canceled but we're hoping we can run between the raindrops."

http://www.dailynexus.com/article.php?a=15807

Anti-War Rally Intensifies After Arrests
Protesters Form Human Barrier to Block Police Cars Carrying Two Participants
By Benjamin Gottlieb / Staff Writer
Published Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Issue 76 / Volume 88
Enlarge this image

Sabrina Ricci
About 300 anti-war protesters begin their march from the end of Pardall Road 
toward the UCSB campus. The march and rally started at noon and lasted until 
about 4:00 p.m.
With heavy police presence and two aircrafts hovering above UCSB, as many as 
five hundred anti-war protesters marched across campus yesterday, resulting 
in the arrest of three participants.
The marchers, who were protesting the war in Iraq as well as the University 
of California's involvement in military research, gathered around Pardall 
Tunnel at noon and then descended upon Corwin Pavilion to disrupt the 2008 
Army-Industry Collaboration Conference. The two-day conference serves as a 
gathering between defense industry and army officials and is hosted by UCSB's 
Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies.
Although the march was initially peaceful, the demonstration quickly 
intensified when protesters responded to the arrest of two male 
participants. After police officers pulled the two men from the crowd and 
placed them under arrest, several demonstrators rushed to obstruct the path 
of three police cars. Forming a human barrier, they proceeded to link arms 
and assume a seated position, demanding the release of the persons in 
custody.
According to Matt Bowman, the UC Police Dept. Community Relations and 
Training Officer, the two individuals - who were unaffiliated with UCSB - 
were issued citations for resisting or delaying a police officer and ordered 
off campus for disturbing university business.
Additionally, during the protest, some members of the crowd proceeded to 
flip over lunch tables, grab food and pound on the conference doors, 
shouting, "UC military free" and "Hey, hey, ho ho, ICB has got to go."
Sitting in the middle of the road while facing off against a police cruiser, 
Sam Sherman, a second-year environmental studies major, said he was 
confident the group could confront authority.
"The police look pretty confused and speechless," Sherman said. "I don't 
think they quite know what to do."
Officers responded rapidly, shielding the cruiser from the demonstrators. 
Bowman said his department successfully controlled the crowd without 
resorting to force.
"I was manhandled myself, many times, but we refrained from using force," 
Bowman said. "There was no use of batons, tazers or pepper spray . We feel 
the officers did a good job interacting with the public despite heightened 
emotions, and [the police] acted professionally throughout the event."
However, Kyle Knoebel, a second-year environmental studies major, alleged he 
was jostled by a police officer during the stand off.
"As I was sitting down in front of the car, the officer grabbed my neck and 
threw me to the ground," Knoebel said. "Then he kicked me when I was on the 
floor."
Yesterday's student-organized event also targeted UC involvement with 
weapons research - chiefly its co-management of the Lawrence Livermore and 
Los Alamos National Laboratories, which receive government funding in part 
to develop military technology, as well as engaging in other studies.
Erin Rosenthal, a third-year biopsychology major, said she participated in 
yesterday's protest in order to help strengthen peaceful sentiment at UCSB, 
a movement that she said could lead to the end of the war in Iraq.
"We have to build a community voice to speak out against the war," Rosenthal 
said. "It starts small as a protest and gradually, it will get bigger and 
bigger until we can do things such as stop a war, like we saw with Vietnam."
Although the majority of participants in yesterday's spectacle were opposed 
to the war in Iraq, the demonstration was not without its dissenters. Dan 
Duran, a fourth-year business economics major, led a counter-protest.
Waving an American flag, Duran offered an opposing standpoint to the issues 
highlighted during the protest.
"The main reason that I am out here to protest this rally today is because I 
feel [the protesters] tried really hard to group every special interest 
group together," Duran said. "War made us a nation, ended Nazism and 
slavery, and I just don't believe in what people here today are saying."
Counter-protester Zac Gates, an undeclared first-year student, said two 
female demonstrators approached and allegedly assaulted him and a friend.
"We were having a discussion with two girls participating in the protest 
when they suddenly started shouting at us," Gates said. "They took my signs 
and ripped them up and told us to get out of here . We were simply trying to 
engage them in a dialogue, and they wouldn't have it."
The day's third arrest occurred after a female protester gained entry to the 
AICC conference and began tearing down posters. The woman was spotted 
attempting to flee the premises when UCPD intervened, issuing a citation for 
theft and resisting or delaying a police officer.
In spite of the reports of discord, the event saw no reports of serious 
injury. At the height of the protest, Bowman said the UCPD, Community 
Service Organization, Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Dept., Santa Barbara 
Sheriff's Gang Unit Squad and California Highway Patrol worked in 
conjunction to regulate the event.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/20/MNAIVMIAP.DTL

A day of protest across Bay Area
Meredith May, Matthai Kuruvila,Anastasia Ustinova, Chronicle Staff Writers
Thursday, March 20, 2008

(03-19) 22:25 PDT San Francisco -- War protesters converged in San Francisco 
Wednesday for the five-year anniversary of the war in Iraq and, from early 
morning to late evening, rallied, marched, shouted, sang, danced and 
committed acts of civil disobedience to demonstrate their opposition.
Roughly 150 people were arrested, many of them in front of the office of 
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Many of those arrested were participating in an 
afternoon "die-in" - collapsing en masse to evoke deaths in Iraq - though a 
few actively scuffled with police.
Demonstrators gathered in the evening at Civic Center Plaza to hear speeches 
and take an evening march to the Mission District. They carried signs with 
slogans such as "impeach" and chanted mantras like "money for health care, 
not warfare."
In the morning, a crowd of about 500 people snaked its way through the 
Financial District, periodically prompting police to shut down intersections 
and city blocks and Muni officials to reroute buses.
Yet, despite the often creative costumes and messages, the protests were a 
far cry from the large and dramatic protests that marked the buildup to the 
war as well as the conflict's early months. Tens of thousands came to San 
Francisco in those days, making it an epicenter of the anti-war movement. 
Roughly 2,150 protesters were arrested during the first three days of the 
war, Mar. 19-21, 2003. The city's hotels were crammed, and mobs tried to 
shut down the Bay Bridge.
Wednesday's biggest demonstration in the city occurred in the evening. 
Answer coalition organizer Richard Becker estimated the crowd of 
participants at 7,000.
Some yearned to renew the hope of those early days, emboldened in part by an 
upcoming presidential election that does not include the candidacy of George 
W. Bush.
"There's been a lot of despair, a lot of feelings that the protest movement 
couldn't do anything and a lot of complacency," said Venee Call-Ferrer, who 
protested on the first-year war anniversary but hadn't done so again since 
Wednesday evening.
Veils of mourning
The 42-year-old Berkeley woman and three of her friends dressed in black, 
wearing veils of mourning. They wore red ribbons around their wrists to 
symbolize blood on their hands as U.S. citizens.
"This year, there's a feeling that things are going to change," she said.
It wasn't just San Francisco. Sparse attendance marked anti-war 
demonstrations nationwide, from Washington, D.C., to Syracuse, N.Y. to 
Hartford, Conn.
With song, signs, chants, costumes and even physical scuffles, the many 
expressions of protest in San Francisco seemed to reflect the eclectic and 
varied feelings among those opposed to the war.
The most dramatic acts were committed in front of the Feinstein's office at 
Market and Montgomery streets. About two dozen demonstrators staged a 
"die-in" at about 12:15 p.m., but were quickly surrounded by 80 police 
officers in riot gear.
As protesters were arrested, more demonstrators from the scores who were 
watching from the sidewalk rushed to fill their places.
Among those taken away were 20 people, calling themselves Act Against 
Torture, who were wearing orange jumpsuits with black hoods over their 
heads. They were costumed as prisoners at the controversial U.S. Naval 
Station at Guantanamo Bay, where "enemy combatants" of the "war on terror" 
have been held.
President Bush declared in 2003 that prisoners suspected to be terrorists 
didn't merit the protections of the Geneva Conventions.
After more than two hours of protests - and about 100 arrests - authorities 
finally cleared the intersection and reopened Market Street to traffic at 
2:30 p.m. Among the arrested were three demonstrators who wrestled with 
police. One officer was knocked to the street.
Left-wing activist Daniel Ells-berg told the crowd, "The symbolism of people 
lying in death appears to symbolize the life and death seriousness as we 
enter the sixth year of this crime against the American people." He soon sat 
down in the street and was arrested.
Biggest protest
The largest protest of the day came after work hours in front of San 
Francisco's City Hall.
"This is America," said State Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco. "We are 
not proud. So we say to the world, to the people who are watching, we are 
Americans, we are against it, and we are sorry."
The protesters stood elbow-to-elbow on Civic Center Plaza, occupying roughly 
half the space between the plaza's two main rows of trees. Businessmen in 
suits and fathers with children on their shoulders were among those 
gathered, as well as Marxists and 9/11 conspiracy theorists, who had booths 
set up nearby.
The protesters included three men wearing only purple peace signs painted on 
their chest
An officer told the men "Put a towel or jacket around yourselves. People 
don't want to see that." But they simply moved.
"Protesting like this is no better than some other way," said San Francisco 
resident Rusty Mills. "But it's our way."
A large portion of the crowd appeared to be in their teens, many in leather 
studded belts and Mohawks.
Luis Martinez, 17, held a sign that read "no se puede la paz con la 
guerra" - "you can't get peace through war."
"I'm against the war because of all the killing," he said," and the military 
is made of young people like me."
At least 27 people were arrested at a die-in at Market and Third streets 
around 10:30 a.m. As officers encircled the group, they briefly pushed other 
protesters onto the sidewalk and confiscated at least one bicycle and a 
sign.
Across the bay in Berkeley, about 100 demonstrators gathered at the Martin 
Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park at noon to hear peace activist Cindy 
Sheehan speak. About 80 people marched afterward to the Marine Corps 
recruiting station on Shattuck Square, where demonstrators had gathered 
earlier.
Elsewhere in San Francisco, more than a dozen people were arrested in 
nonviolent actions at the Federal Reserve Bank on Market and the Chevron 
building at California and Battery streets.
The main group of protesters carried signs, shouted slogans and blasted 
music as they roamed the Financial District. Some threw play money in the 
air and waved pink flags.
One large sign carried by four people read: "Was it worth it?"
-- For a video from the downtown San Francisco protests, go to sfgate.com.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b7_2protest.6311842mar14,0,1556798.story

Two local men jailed after Iraq war protest in Senate gallery
They're among 10 activists arrested Wednesday in D.C.
By Patrick Lester | Of The Morning Call
March 14, 2008

Two local men were among a group of people arrested while protesting the 
Iraq war in the Senate gallery Wednesday, U.S. Capitol Police said.

Tim Chadwick, 54, of Bethlehem and Art Landis, 74, of Sellersville spent 
Wednesday night in jail and were awaiting a court appearance in Washington, 
D.C., late Thursday afternoon.

Chadwick and Landis were among 10 war protestors who called themselves the 
''ghosts of the Iraq war'' and shouted in the Senate gallery during a 
federal budget debate.

The demonstrators wore gauze shrouds over their heads and black shirts that 
read, ''We will not be silent.''
They chanted ''The war is immoral! Stop funding the war!'' Police officers 
removed them from a visitors gallery overlooking the Senate floor.

The protest was organized by the National Campaign for Nonviolent 
Resistance, a national network of activists trying to end the war.

Chadwick said the protest took place Wednesday because lawmakers were 
discussing budget issues and are nearing the end of their session.

''With the war coming to the fifth anniversary, we felt that we could not 
continue to do what we're doing [in Iraq],'' Chadwick said.

He said the group was arrested about 3 p.m. Wednesday. Six of the 10 were 
released from a jail at midnight Thursday. Chadwick said he was not sure why 
the other four were not released. It's not known what charges the protesters 
face.

He said all 10 have been arrested multiple times for protesting. Chadwick 
said he's been arrested eight or nine times.

''This is not a neophyte group of activists,'' Chadwick said, adding that 
he's on probation after an arrest at a similar protest last year. ''We're 
not doing this with the idea that we're going to get arrested. We're doing 
it because it has to be done.''

Landis was sentenced in February to 30 days in federal prison for 
trespassing at the Army base in Fort Benning, Ga., during a Nov. 18, 2007, 
protest of the Army's Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, 
which Landis claims is a terrorist training camp.

Landis is still waiting to hear where he'll serve that sentence. Landis has 
been arrested at least five times for protesting the war.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/15/BAOTVKT24.DTL

http://tinyurl.com/3m5cnv

Anti-war protesters close down recruiting center
By: Zac Farber
Posted: 4/4/08

Eight Macalester students lashed themselves together with PVC pipes
fortified by duct tape and chicken wire while two students used U-shaped
bike locks to fasten their necks to the entrances of army and navy
recruiting centers on Washington Avenue near the University of Minnesota
campus.

Macalester Students for a Democratic Society organized the March 27
event to protest the Iraq war, one week after its fifth anniversary. A
crowd of about 100 people, most of whom voiced support for the
protesters, gathered around the spectacle. Some, who were members of
University of Minnesota's College Republicans, said the Macalester
protesters were infringing on potential recruits' right to join the
military.

The atmosphere was jubilant, with protesters waving signs and preening
in front of the Fox and Kare 11 cameras. Macalester students carpooled,
bicycled and took buses to the Minneapolis recruiting stations, where
they were joined by U of M students, passers-by and students who played
hookey from local high schools.

MPJC-SDS coordinated the protest in conjunction with the Anti-War
Committee, a U of M student group. More than 200 U of M students
attended an Anti-War Committee rally. Students proceeded to march to the
Army National Guard recruitment office on Washington Avenue, across the
street from the recruiting centers where Macalester students were
protesting. Police on horseback and bicycles arrested 16 protesters who
entered the National Guard office on trespassing charges, Minneapolis
Police Sgt. Jesse Garcia said.

None of the arrested students attend Macalester and MPJC-SDS declared
their protest a success.

"We declared Mission Accomplished because the centers were shut down all
day, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m." a member of MPJC-SDS who called himself
"DanarchyMacSDS" wrote in a post on Infoshop News, a website that bills
itself as "anarchist news, opinion and much more."

At the protest the eight students who chained themselves to the
recruiting centers doors declined to give their names and directed
questions to Sadie Cox '11 and Daniel Balogh '10.

"We chose this particular place," Cox said, "because we think it is the
closest thing there is to a military presence in the cities."

Cox said that 70 percent of the Iraqi people want the United States to
leave and that it is time to withdraw American troops.

"We've been relying on the idea that the people who were elected will
get the U.S. out of Iraq soon," she said, referring to the Democratic
victories in House and Senate elections in 2006.

She cautioned against similar false hopes for change in the presidential
election. "The dream candidates--as wonderful and idealistic as they
are--might not be the be all and end all," she said.

The protesters' press statement, which they distributed to local media,
hinted at dissatisfaction with the limited role of direct democracy in
the American political system. "We will not tolerate a system," the
statement read, "which only allows for dissent to be registered through
infrequent elections and party politics."

Bryan Axelrod, a sophomore at the U of M, served three tours of duty in
Iraq's Anbar province. He said that the protesters thwarted potential
recruits who showed interest in non-controversial military positions
such as navy doctor or pilots who assisted in rescue missions after
Hurricane Katrina.

"The only way the occupation is going to end," he said, "is when the
Iraqi government is strong enough to stand by its own."

Axelrod countered the protesters' claim that Iraqis want the United
States out of their country.

"What you don't really hear about," he said, "is the Iraqis who invite
American soldiers into their homes when they're already at war, and they
offer them food and offer them water."

But most of the Macalester students in attendance disagreed.

"I think it's really important," Natalia Shulkin '08 said, "that people
speak out against the war and what's happening in our name."

Many Macalester students heard about the Minneapolis protest at a
"speakout" against the war held at 11 a.m. that morning at Bateman Plaza.

Students passed around a bullhorn and gave extemporaneous speeches about
why they opposed the Iraq war as about 30 students and community members
watched.

"I think we've been killing for far too long," Carl Skarbek '11 said.

"There were over 165 investigated reports of sexual assault by the
army," Jon Branden '11 said.

In clear terms Margaret Beegle, executive assistant at the Institute for
Global Citizenship, blamed Bush and Cheney for what she called a
"destructive geopolitical game."

"Take them to Hague," she said. "Charge them with crimes against humanity.

"I'm willing to be on a committee if somebody wants to do something like
that."

Cox later read a statement that concluded by calling for "an end to this
illegal, unethical and disgraceful war on the Iraqi people, once and for
all." Then she asked the crowd to come join her at the Minneapolis
recruiting stations.

"They really do need our support," she said. "A bunch of cops just got
there."

Kayla Burchuk '10 helped sell the onlookers on the benefits of traveling
4.5 miles to cheer on the protesters.

"They made these really cool box structures to lock their arms in," she
said. "They look like robots."

http://tinyurl.com/2cguqp

3/20/2008 12:47:00 PM
Iraq war protesters get pepper-sprayed
Fifth anniversary brings demonstrators to the streets
The Associated Press

PORTLAND -- Police used pepper spray on demonstrators protesting the
Iraq war in downtown Portland on its fifth anniversary. The
demonstrators later hopped a train and headed for a military recruitment
center across town.

Police Bureau spokesman Sgt. Brian Schmautz said Shawn Biggers, 23, was
arrested Wednesday and charged with assaulting an officer, disorderly
conduct and interfering with an officer after he allegedly kicked a
policeman in the knee.

Schmautz said police used "a little pepper spray."

A group of about 100 demonstrators headed away from the confrontation
toward a plaza for a rally, accompanied by police on bicycles, horseback
and motorcycles. They then piled onto a MAX light rail train to a
shopping center located near a recruiting station. A string of police
motorcycles and a van of police in riot gear followed the train.

"Sorry, no room for bikes," one of the riders told an officer who looked
ready to board.

They marched from the Lloyd Center to the recruiting center, where a
diminished group blew horns, beat drums and chanted, "tear it down" and
"end the silence, stop the violence." Passing cars honked and waved,
some impolitely.

Some protesters wore bandanna masks, carried black flags and identified
themselves as anarchists, an established counterculture movement in
Oregon, or as members of Students for a Democratic Society, a strident
anti-war group that flourished mostly in the 1960s and 1970s on many
college campuses.

A smaller demonstration earlier Wednesday went to the offices of Oregon
Sens. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, and Gordon Smith, a Republican, and U.S.
Rep. David Wu, D-Ore. All are on record as favoring withdrawal of
American troops from Iraq, as are the state's other three Democratic
congressmen.

One member of the smaller march, Nancy Kurkinen of Portland, a member of
Families for Peace, acknowledged Oregon's Congressional opposition to
the war.

"So, let's do something about it; they are in a position to do things we
can't do," she said. "Talk is cheap. This is a $700 billion war."

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2008/03/12/1361650-war-protesters-arrested-in-senate

War Protesters Arrested in Senate
Wed Mar 12, 2008 2:52 PM EDT
senate, protesters, capitol-police, politics
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - U.S. Capitol Police arrested 10 war protesters who began 
shouting in the Senate gallery Wednesday.
The protesters were quickly hustled into a hallway and out of the view of 
reporters. They had chanted, "The war is immoral! Stop funding the war!" - 
as police officers grabbed them and physically removed them from a visitors 
gallery overlooking the Senate floor.
The demonstrators wore gauze shrouds over their heads and black shirts that 
read, "We will not be silent." One member said they represented the 
"National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance."
Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas was speaking during debate on 
the federal budget when the protest broke out. She stopped talking while the 
protesters were removed.
Outside the chamber, police ordered reporters to leave the public hallway 
where authorities were detaining the protesters. An officer could be heard 
reporting that there had been 10 arrests in the incident.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/03/01/18482849.php

ILWU to Shut Down West Coast Ports May 1 Demanding End to War in Iraq, 
Afghanistan
In a major step for the U.S. labor movement, the International Longshore and 
Warehouse Union (ILWU) has announced that it will shut down West Coast ports 
on May 1, to demand an immediate end to the war and occupation in Iraq and 
Afghanistan and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Middle East. In a 
February 22 letter to AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, ILWU International 
president Robert McEllrath reported that at a recent coast-wide union 
meeting, "One of the resolutions adopted by caucus delegates called on 
longshore workers to stop work during the day shift on May 1, 2008 to 
express their opposition to the war in Iraq."
This is the first time in decades that an American union has decided to 
undertake industrial action against a U.S. war. It is doubly important that 
this mobilization of labor's power is to take place on May Day, the 
international workers day, which is not honored in the U.S. Moreover, the 
resolution voted by the ILWU delegates opposes not only the hugely unpopular 
war in Iraq, but also the war and occupation of Afghanistan (which 
Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Republican John 
McCain all want to expand). The motion to shut down the ports also demands 
the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the entire region, including the oil 
sheikdoms of the strategically important Persian/Arab Gulf.
The Internationalist Group has fought from the moment U.S. troops invaded 
Afghanistan in September 2002 for American unions to strike against the war. 
Despite the fact that millions have marched in the streets of Europe and the 
United States against the war in Iraq, the war goes on. Neither of the twin 
war parties of U.S. imperialism - Democrats and Republicans - and none of 
the capitalist candidates will stop this horrendous slaughter that has 
already killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. The only way to stop the 
Pentagon killing machine is by mobilizing the power of a greater force - 
that of the international working class.
The action announced by the powerful West Coast dock workers union, to stop 
work to stop the war, should be taken up by unions and labor organizations 
throughout the United States and internationally. The ILWU should be 
commended for courageously taking the first step, and it is up to working 
people everywhere to back them up. Wherever support is strong enough, on May 
1 there should be mass walkouts, sick-outs, labor marches, plant-gate 
meetings, lunch-time rallies, teach-ins. And the purpose of such actions 
should be not to beg the bourgeois politicians whose hands are covered with 
blood, having voted for every war budget for six and a half years, but a 
show of strength of the working people who make this country run, and who 
can shut it down!
Now is the time for bold class action. Opposition to the war is even greater 
in the U.S. working class than in the population as a whole, more than 
two-thirds of which wants to stop the war but is stymied by the capitalist 
political system. In his letter to Sweeney, the ILWU president asked "if 
other AFL-CIO affiliates are planning to participate in similar events." 
Labor militants should make sure the answer to that question is a resounding 
"yes!"
There should be no illusions that this will be easy. No doubt the Pacific 
Maritime Association (PMA) bosses will try to get the courts to rule the 
stop-work action illegal. The ILWU leadership could get cold feet, since 
this motion was passed because of overwhelming support from the delegates 
despite attempts to stop it or, failing that, to water it down or limit the 
action. And the U.S. government could try to ban it on the grounds of 
"national security," just as Bush & Co. slapped a Taft-Hartley injunction on 
the docks during contract negotiations in the fall of 2002, saying that any 
work stoppage was a threat to the "war effort," and threatened to occupy the 
ports with troops!
The answer to every attempt to sabotage or undercut this first labor action 
against this war, and against Washington's broader "war on terror" which is 
intended to terrorize the world into submission must be to redouble efforts 
to bring out workers' power independent of the capitalist parties and 
politicians. If the ILWU work stoppage is successful, it will only be a 
small, but very important, beginning that must be generalized and deepened. 
It will take industrial-strength labor action to defeat the imperialist war 
abroad and the bosses' war on immigrants, oppressed minorities, poor and 
working people "at home."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,342553,00.html

16 Arrested in Twin Cities Anti-War Protest
Thursday, March 27, 2008
16 people were arrested after a group of student protesters entered a 
National Guard recruiting office on the University of Minnesota campus on 
Thursday, according to MyFOXTwinCities.com
The group, mostly of students from Macalester College, was there to protest 
the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq, according to the report.
Police say two people chained their necks to the door of the recruiting 
station using bike locks, while others locked arms on the sidewalk.
When asked by a reporter why they didn't stage their protest on the official 
5th anniversary of the Iraq War, one protester said it was because they 
"were on Spring Break," MyFOXTwinCities reports.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/nyregion/23protest.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

A War Protest Falls Short in Manhattan

Laurie Wen was among marchers on 14th Street protesting the Iraq war, which 
began five years ago last week. The war is "so under the radar, it's like it's 
not happening," a protester said.

By ANTHONY RAMIREZ
Published: March 23, 2008
Correction Appended
The goal of the organizers of the "River to River: Join Hands for Peace" 
protest on Saturday was modest.
To make a statement against the war in Iraq, they needed thousands of people 
to stretch their arms fingertip to fingertip across most of the width of 
Manhattan, along 14th Street from 11th Avenue in the west to Avenue A in the 
east.
"We figure three feet per person, not including the intersections," said 
Leslie Kielson, 44, a New York coordinator for a group called United for 
Peace and Justice and the lead organizer of the march. "So we need about 
2,500 people."
The protest marking the fifth anniversary of the war fell short.
There were huge gaps a block or so west of where Ms. Kielson spoke, at the 
south end of Union Square. Organizers asked passers-by, "Hello, would you 
like to join the peace line for a second?" On many blocks, there were more 
people waiting at bus shelters than demonstrators.
Ms. Kielson said her group was a 75-member coalition of unions, religious 
organizations and neighborhood groups. She said that in contrast to protests 
against the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War and the early stages of this 
war, large groups of students from Columbia, New York University and other 
institutions did not turn out Saturday.
For the most part, the demonstrators were parents with children, middle-aged 
people or older protesters with long white hair tucked underneath berets or 
bandannas with antiwar buttons.
Jonathan Fluck, 53, an actor from Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, who attended the 
protest, was frustrated. The war is "so under the radar, it's like it's not 
happening," he said.
Two of the few protesters in their 20s were Jose Negroni, 26, a 
schoolteacher from Queens, and his fiancée, Claire Noelle Frost, 24, a 
professional organizer. Both carried small drums to beat on in case their 
voices became strained from chanting.
Mr. Negroni said the volunteer Army had removed a goad to war protests. "If 
there were a draft, there would be probably 150,000 people for every 
protester like you and me," he said to Ms. Frost.
Farther down the human chain, Eileen Stareshefsky, a school office worker 
from Manhattan, said she had been to scores of protests since her first, in 
1967. "This could be my 100th protest," she said.
Her friend Sheila Zukowsky, 57, of Washington Heights, said, "We're both 
children of the '60s." She was puzzled by the lack of college students 
protesting. She said, half joking, "Maybe they weren't on the right e-mail 
list?"
The protest ended with a procession of two cardboard coffins to the corner 
of Park Avenue South and East 17th Street - one draped with an American 
flag, and the other with an American flag and an Iraqi flag.
Organizers said they would hold a candlelight vigil in Union Square on the 
day after the 4,000th United States military death in Iraq. As of Wednesday, 
the Department of Defense had identified 3,984 service members killed since 
the start of the Iraq war. On Friday and Saturday, four more soldiers were 
killed.
Colin Moynihan contributed reporting.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: March 30, 2008
An article in some editions last Sunday about a protest in Manhattan against 
the Iraq war misspelled the surname of one protester in some copies. She is 
Eileen Stareshefsky, not Scareshefsky.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1720061,00.html

Does New York Have a Serial Bomber?
Thursday, Mar. 06, 2008 By ALEX ALTMAN/NEW YORK CITY
New York City's Times Square - the pulsating heart of this teeming 
metropolis - was its usual, frenetic self Thursday morning, its scores of 
corporate billboards and animated displays shimmering brightly above the 
crush of people bustling to work. But something was amiss. Sections of the 
district were cordoned off with barricades and yellow tape; traffic was 
snarled, and police swarmed the area. For those unaware of what transpired 
here overnight, news crawls bellowed the troubling headlines: "TIMES SQUARE 
BOMBED." Authorities are investigating whether the attack is linked to two 
previous bombings that bore eerie similarities.
At approximately 3:45 a.m. Thursday, a "low-order" explosive device was 
detonated on the Times Square traffic island bounded by 43rd and 44th 
Streets, Broadway and Seventh Avenue. No one was injured and no suspects 
have been apprehended. "This was not a particularly sophisticated device," 
said New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who cautioned the explosive was 
nonetheless "capable of causing injury or death." At a news conference, 
Kelly brandished an unassuming green ammunition container - readily 
available, he said, in military supply stores - similar to that which held 
the crudely fashioned bomb. He said witnesses placed a hooded man with a 
backpack riding a bicycle on the island before the blast. Police released a 
grainy surveillance video Thursday afternoon of the attack showing a 
bicyclist on the island immediately before the loud blast, which sent white 
smoke billowing through the empty intersection.
The explosion was apparently "deliberately directed" at a U.S. military 
recruiting station, the Armed Forces Career Center, situated on the 
triangular space dubbed "Military Island". No one was inside the steel and 
glass-paneled facility at the time of the blast, which cracked the front 
door and shattered a window. The building, which is positioned across the 
street from a police station and jointly houses Army, Navy, Air Force and 
Marine recruiters, has been the site of anti-war demonstrations. Late 
Thursday, Politico.com, citing congressional insiders, said that eight House 
Democrats were mailed a letter and photo of the Times Square recruiting 
station in Manhattan before it was bombed.
Though the attack resulted in no injuries and minimal damage, it raised 
unsettling concerns: chiefly, that it could be connected to two prior 
bombings with similar hallmarks. Last October, a device containing explosive 
powder was lobbed over the fence at the Mexican consulate, located just a 
few blocks southeast. The British consulate, also in Midtown, was the target 
of a similar bombing in 2005. Both of those attacks blew out windows. Those 
attacks also reportedly took place between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m. and were 
perpetrated by a person riding a bicycle. Forensic evidence is being sent to 
FBI headquarters in Quantico, Va., to examine possible links between the 
incidents.
Officials denounced Thursday's attack with strong language. "Whoever the 
coward was that committed this disgraceful act on our city will be found and 
prosecuted to the full extent of the law," New York City Mayor Michael 
Bloomberg told reporters at a press conference Thursday morning. "We will 
not tolerate such attacks." Army Captain Charles Jaquillard, commander of 
recruiting in Manhattan, told the Associated Press, "If it is something 
that's directed toward American troops, then it's something that's taken 
very seriously."
The city quickly regained its equilibrium. Streets reopened and subway 
service was restored. "New York City is back and open for business," 
Bloomberg said. Even tourists at the scene - holding cameras aloft and 
chattering on cell phones - seemed largely unruffled by the incident. "I do 
feel quite safe still," says Sandra Bell, a tourist on vacation from 
Glasgow, Scotland. Still, she says, standing just yards from the spot where 
she's often watched the iconic ball descend to herald each New Year, "it's 
amazing to think something would happen here." As uniformed military 
personnel ducked in and out of the recruiting office, the poster of Uncle 
Sam maintained his familiar pose - eyes fixed on prospective recruits, index 
finger outstretched, issuing his trademark beckoning call: "I Want You." But 
to Damian Brown, 31, peering at the scene from across the street, the blast 
conveyed the opposite message. "Time to bring those boys home," he says 
quietly.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-easterprotest1mar24,0,5791594.story

War protest mars Holy Name mass
Demonstrators spatter selves and worshipers with fake blood
By Stacy St. Clair and Erika Slife | Tribune reporters
12:17 AM CDT, March 24, 2008
As they listened to the gospel during mass Sunday, few parishioners at Holy 
Name parish could have imagined how their holiday service and their Easter 
finery were about to be tainted.

Six protesters disrupted the beginning of Cardinal Francis George's homily 
to shout their opposition to the Iraq war. The demonstrators-who called 
themselves Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War, despite their male and 
female membership-squirted fake blood on themselves and nearby worshipers as 
security guards tried to usher them from the parish's auditorium, where mass 
is being said during repairs on the downtown Chicago cathedral.

The syrupy red substance-which one protester later described as "stage 
blood"-initially drew horrified gasps and a few shrieks from the 600 
worshipers at the mass. The shock, however, quickly gave way to anger as 
people booed the demonstrators while they were being removed from the hall.

Several churchgoers then rushed to the bathroom to wash off the sticky 
liquid. Others cried openly. A few livid parents followed the protesters 
into the lobby and berated them for scaring children at mass.
"Are you happy with yourselves?" Mike Wainscott of Chicago shouted at the 
demonstrators as they were being handcuffed by police. "There were kids in 
there. You scared little kids with your selfish act. Are you happy now?"

The protesters were all charged with felony criminal defacement of property 
and two counts of simple battery for defacing church property and the 
worshipers' clothes with the fake blood. Chicago police identified the six 
arrested as: Donte D. Smith, 18, of Chicago; Ephran Ramirez Jr., 22, of 
Chicago; Ryne Ziemba, 25, of Chicago; Mercedes Phinaih, 18, of Bloomington; 
Regan Maher, 25, of Chicago; and Angela Haban, 20, of Prospect Heights.

Mike Harding, a friend of the protesters, described them as a group of 
students and local activists who do good deeds for their community, such as 
teach classes, plant gardens and distribute food to the poor. If the 
demonstrators' actions ruined some people's Easter, then perhaps they'll 
have more empathy for Iraqi citizens who have seen their holiest days marred 
by violence, said Harding, 21.

"The idea is to bring that back here, not necessarily in a brutal way, but 
in a peaceful way," said Harding, who went to a police station after the 
arrest for information about his friends.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Harding said officers were being verbally 
abusive toward the protesters and were denying one of them medical treatment 
for his asthma. He said the accusations against them were "trumped-up" 
charges.

Protests aren't uncommon at Holy Name, the home parish to George and the 
epicenter of Chicago's large Catholic community. Some parishioners, however, 
said the faux bloodshed, which the protesters described as a "die-in," 
ventured into frighteningly unacceptable territory.

"The fact that people have to come to Easter mass and do something like that 
is disturbing," said Carroll Baker, whose face was splattered with the fake 
blood during the fracas. "It's very sad, and it's very irritating."

Bob Gowrylow, a 70-year-old Holy Name usher who is battling cancer, wept in 
the lobby as he tried to clean the fake blood from his blazer. Gowrylow said 
he blames himself for not rushing down the aisle quickly enough to prevent 
the protesters from frightening parishioners.

Gowrylow, who said he had been recently released from a hospital, worried 
the worshipers missed an important Easter message because of the disruption. 
He missed the cardinal's homily himself because one of the demonstrators had 
squirted the fake blood in his ear and damaged his hearing aid.

"I've been an usher for 40 years, and something like this has never 
happened," he said. "I wish I could have done something to stop it."

The protest erupted as the cardinal began his Easter homily, a sermon that 
celebrates the Christian belief that Jesus rose from the dead three days 
after his crucifixion. Dressed in their Sunday best-shirts and ties on the 
men, and the women in skirts-the six demonstrators moved into the auditorium 
aisles from their center-row seats and shouted their opposition to the war.

They decried the deaths of 4,000 U.S. soldiers and thousands of Iraqi 
citizens, drawing angry heckles and shouts of "Sit down!" from churchgoers. 
As ushers and security guards rushed down the aisle, the group denounced the 
cardinal for having lunch with President Bush and Mayor Richard Daley in 
January.

They then discharged packets of fake blood, spurting it over themselves and 
hitting those seated nearby. The ushers pleaded with them to stop disrupting 
mass, while security guards threatened arrest.

"Even the pope calls for peace," they chanted as they were escorted from the 
auditorium hall. "Even the pope calls for peace."

"And so should we all call for peace," said George, drawing strong applause 
from the parish.

The cardinal returned easily to his Easter homily, but Connie Gallegos found 
herself staring at disbelief at her husband's blood-splattered khaki pants 
and his light-blue Polo shirt. The scene seemed so surreal, she said, she 
didn't register what was happening until after the protesters had left the 
auditorium.

For the rest of the mass, she sat and thought about the Northern Illinois 
University students who were seated in a lecture hall on Feb. 14 when a 
gunman opened fire, killing five before taking his own life. She wondered if 
those students sat frozen as she did, muted by the confusion and emotions 
swirling around her.

"I have a son who goes to NIU," she said. "I keep thinking about how those 
students must have reacted."

Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War, however, may have been preaching to 
the choir-literally. Both Pope Benedict XVI and the U.S. Conference of 
Catholic Bishops have opposed the war since its inception, with the pope 
using his own Easter homily Sunday to renew calls for an Iraq resolution 
that would "safeguard peace and the common good."

After the service, the cardinal reiterated the Catholic Church's opposition 
to the war, but he said mass is not the place to protest the U.S.-led 
invasion.

"We should all work for peace," George said, "but not by interrupting the 
worship of God. It's an act of violence to come among a group of believers 
and try to manipulate worship to your own purposes, no matter how noble and 
good they are."

In a statement issued by Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War, the group 
said it protested at the cathedral "to reach both Holy Name's large Easter 
audience-including Chicago's most prominent Catholic citizens, who commonly 
attend Easter mass at the church-and the many more viewers and readers of 
the local press, which usually extensively covers their services."

The statement lauded protesters' efforts to remind the churchgoers that 
George and Daley met two months ago with the president, described as the 
"principal public figure responsible for initiating the carnage in Iraq."

The six protesters are expected to appear Monday afternoon in Bond Court.

http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/81819/index.php

3/23: Peace Protesters Stage Dramatic Die-in to Oppose Iraq War at City's 
Most Prominent Catholic Parish

CHICAGO, March 23 - Six members of the anti-war group "Catholic Schoolgirls 
Against The War" staged a dramatic die-in during the 11AM Easter mass at 
Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago's most prominent Catholic parish - and the home 
of one of the nation's most conservative church leaders, Cardinal George. 
The action included a denunciation of Cardinal George's January 7 meeting 
with Mayor Daley and President Bush, the 'chief architect' of the ongoing 
carnage in Iraq. Four people were arrested at Bush's January 7 visit, one of 
whom was slapped with bogus felony charges. (Photo by Kevin Clark)

CHICAGO, March 23 - Six members of the anti-war group "Catholic Schoolgirls 
Against The War" staged a dramatic die-in during the 11AM Easter mass at 
Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago's most prominent Catholic parish - and the home 
of one of the nation's most conservative church leaders, Cardinal George. 
The protesters also denounced Cardinal George's January 7 meeting with Mayor 
Daley and President Bush, who they charged was the "chief architect" of the 
ongoing carnage in Iraq.

The three men and three women activists timed the action to reach both Holy 
Name's large easter audience -- including some of Chicago's most prominent 
citizens, who commonly attend Easter mass at the church -- and the many more 
viewers and readers of the local press, which usually extensively covers the 
services.

The action was staged in the Gold Coast cathedral's parish center, an 
auditorium where mass is being said while the main cathedral undergoes 
renovation. Easter services at Holy Name are traditionally one of the most 
heavily attended masses of the year, and this mass was no exception, with 
people packed wall to wall for today's Easter morning holiday service.

The group of young men and women, dressed in their Easter best, sat through 
the 11AM mass until George reached the homily. George had just uttered the 
words, "Often, we hear people say 'love is blind," when the protesters rose 
from their seats to address George and the hundreds of parishioners in the 
auditorium. "The sixth commandment says 'Thou shall not kill'" said one 
protester. "Yet more than a million Iraqis have been killed since the 
invasion of Iraq," said a second. Many members of the audience audibly 
gasped and murmered at these words. "On January 7, Cardinal George met for 
lunch with George W. Bush," said a third protester, saying that Bush was 
responsible for the ongoing carnage in Iraq. That statement referred to a 
January 7 meetng Cardinal George and Chicago mayor Richard Daley had with 
George W. Bush during a presidential visit to Chicago that was capped by the 
arrest of four peace protesters.

In the wake of the Bush visit in January, peace activists vigorously 
criticized the Cardinal and mayor Daley for failing to publicly raise the 
issue of the war -- and the need to end it -- with Bush, and the Holy Name 
action was staged in part to remind George of his resonsibility to press for 
the issue of an end to the war with public officials, particularly leading 
war boosters like Bush.

At this point during the church service, ushers had rushed around the 
protesters, who then squirted themselves with stage blood and collapsed to 
the floor in the aisle. Some stage blood spattered on non-protesters in the 
vicinity.

The protesters voluntarily got to their feet at the ushers' urging and 
walked out of the auditorium, chanting "Even the Pope calls for peace!" "And 
so should we all call for peace," said George from the alter as the last 
protester was led out.

The protesters were arrested outside by Chicago police, and conducted a 
series of media interviews with local television outlets, which had packed 
the auditorium to film George's service, while cops waited for a police 
wagon to take them to lockup.

The six peace activists -- Angela Haban, 20 years old, female; Regan Maher, 
25 years old, female; Mercedes Phinaih, 18 years old, female; Ephran 
Ramirez, Jr., 22 years old, male; Donte D. Smith, 21 years old, male; and 
Ryane J. Ziemba, 25 years old, male -- chose Holy Name as a way to ratchet 
up a sense of urgency about the war with the cardinal and many of the city's 
elite who attend services there.

The protesters' sense of urgency seems to be well placed -- four more U.S. 
soldiers were killed today in Iraq, bringing the total number of soldiers 
killed there to over 4,000 since the war began just over five years ago. 
Estimates of Iraqi dead total in the hundreds of thousands, and perhaps as 
high as a million or more. The U.S. government has chosen not to keep track 
of the number of civilian casualties in this conflict.

"On a day when we're celebrating the resurrection of the Prince of Peace --  
a man whose ministry was deeply tied to comfort and relief for the most 
oppressed among us -- it's critical that we remind ourselves and others 
everywhere of the need to reject business as usual and demand peace in Iraq 
from our own government and its supporter," said Kevin Clark, a supporter of 
today's protesters. "The fact is that many in attendance today at Holy Name 
Cathedral are among the city's most powerful people, and it's incumbent on 
them to endure a little discomfort to be reminded that unless they're 
working tirelessly to end this war immediately, then their presence in this 
church on Easter Sunday is an act of hypocrisy."

This afternoon, the Chicago police announced that the six young people 
arrested at the Holy Name Cathedral die-in have been charged with one count 
of felony criminal damage to property and two counts of simple battery. They 
are currently being held at Cook County jail at 26th and California, and are 
expected to be arraigned on the felony charge some time Monday morning, 
possibly as early as 9AM. Police denied one arrestee who is hypoglycemic 
access to his medication. Police have also repoortedly been telling 
concerned callers that supporters of the peace protesters could be 
investigated for terrorism by Homeland Security -- a tactic supporters says 
underscores the repressive political nature of the police response to the 
protest.

Supporters are working to arrange jail solidarity and legal support. For 
more info, call Kevin Clark at 312-259-4380 or email him at solitaryleftist 
(at) aol.com. Supporters have also set up a paypal account to raise bail 
funds. The contact email for that effort is holyname6 (at) riseup.net. 
Paypal donations can also be sent via the following url: 
www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr


----------------------------------------------------

Protest against war and oil profits at Chevron's gate
Anastasia Ustinova, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, March 16, 2008

(03-15) 21:50 PST RICHMOND -- More than 300 people marched from downtown 
Point Richmond to the Chevron refinery today to protest the company they say 
is profiting from the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Twenty-four demonstrators were arrested for trespassing late in the 
afternoon after removing a police barricade, entering refinery property and 
linking arms, said Lt. Mark Gagan, a Richmond police spokesman. He said they 
cooperated with the arresting officers.
The protesters were marching against the war in Iraq - Wednesday will mark 
the fifth anniversary - as well as a proposal to upgrade the refinery's 
processing capability. They accused Chevron of profiteering from the oil 
obtained by the U.S. invasion, which has cost many thousands of lives and 
billions of dollars.
Kayla Starr, 66, from Ashland, Ore., said she was participating because of 
her 2-year-old granddaughter, Dahlia.
"I don't want her to get asthma and cancer from breathing the polluted air, 
and I don't want her to live in the world where we're killing innocent 
people," she said.
The demonstrators arrived at the refinery on Chevron Way around 1:30 p.m. 
About 50 formed human chains at the entrance while others held banners, sang 
and danced.
Gopal Dayaneni of Berkeley, a spokesman for the organizers, said some 
protesters decided about four hours later to "take it closer to Chevron" and 
enter company property. Gagan, the police spokesman, said no property was 
damaged.
Chevron spokeswoman Camille Priselac said operations at the refinery were 
not disrupted by the protests and that alternative means existed for 
vehicles needing to enter and leave the facility.
"We have also taken steps to ensure the safety of our employees," she said, 
adding that because of the safety measures, those steps would not be 
disclosed.
Chevron has said in the past that the proposed refinery upgrade will not 
cause additional pollution.
About 45 Richmond police officers in helmets were at the scene.
Two young women were cited for trying to hang a banner on a pole.
The protest at the refinery was preceded by a two-hour rally at Judge G. 
Carroll Park. Speaking at the gathering, Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin 
said, "It's time to clear the smoke of lies, the smoke of pollution and the 
smoke of war."
The protest was co-sponsored by Direct Action to Stop the War, Greenaction, 
West County Toxics Coalition, Amazon Watch, Richmond Progressive Alliance, 
Richmond Greens, Community Health Initiative, Communities for a Better 
Environment, Global Exchange and Rainforest Action Network.
The action coincided with several other anti-war protests today in the Bay 
Area.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gbpZpzf22HQklONb49NWXybzhSAgD8VGDF200

Protests on 5th Anniversary of Iraq War
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN - Mar 19, 2008
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - Octogenarian Jim Barron has hearing aids and a 
pacemaker. The prostate cancer survivor received a cortisone shot this month 
to ease the pain from an old shoulder injury.
"It got to the point where I couldn't lift a glass of water," Barron said.
Despite his aches, Barron planned to risk arrest Wednesday, the fifth 
anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which has claimed the lives of 
nearly 4,000 U.S. troops. He's part of a nationwide peace movement using the 
anniversary to protest with nonviolent civil disobedience.
Anti-war protests were scheduled in Washington, D.C., where demonstrators 
vowed to block the entrance to the Internal Revenue Service and to disrupt 
the offices of lobbyists who represent military contractors and oil 
companies profiting from the war.
College students from New Jersey to North Dakota planned walkouts, while 
students at the University of Minnesota vowed to shut down military 
recruiting offices on campus. Barron geared up to participate in a protest 
in Hartford, Conn.
"This is the first time coordinated direct actions of civil disobedience are 
happening," said Barbra Bearden, communications manager for the group Peace 
Action. "People who have never done this kind of action are stepping up and 
deciding now is the time to do it."
The Iraq war has been unpopular both abroad and in the United States, 
although an Associated Press-Ipsos poll in December showed that growing 
numbers think the U.S. is making progress and will eventually be able to 
claim some success in Iraq.
The findings, a rarity in the relentlessly unpopular war, came amid 
diminishing U.S. and Iraqi casualties and the start of modest troop 
withdrawals. Still, majorities remain upset about the conflict and convinced 
the invasion was a mistake, and the issue still splits the country deeply 
along party lines.
Activists cite frustration that the war has dragged on for so long and hope 
the more dramatic actions will galvanize others to protest.
"If you are determined and your cause is right, the American people will 
eventually come around," Barron said.
Though he has participated in demonstrations for decades, Barron has never 
risked a trip to jail. He opposed the war from the beginning and has written 
letters of protest to Congress, but his feelings intensified while hearing 
the names of the war dead read each week in his church.
The final straw, he said, was reading an article about U.S. soldiers who 
suffered permanent brain damage in Iraq.
"I'm tired of being a futile old man not able to have any participation in 
this decision," Barron said. "I'm 80 years old. I'm still alive. I want 
people to say, `If he's not afraid to do it, what am I doing being so 
silent?'"
Barron, who ran a kitchen remodeling business with his wife before he 
retired in 1995, said he helped organize efforts to integrate restaurants in 
Richmond, Va., during the 1960s. He saw police drag college students from 
lunch counters, and said authorities stood and watched as the students were 
attacked on sidewalks.
But the attacks only encouraged more protesters to engage in civil 
disobedience, he said.
"I saw the effectiveness of civil disobedience," Barron said. "Those kids 
paid a helluva penalty, but they got the good people of Richmond awakened. 
This chemistry needs to happen again."
Planning to join Barron on Wednesday were his minister, the Rev. Kathleen 
McTigue, and others from his Unitarian church in New Haven. McTigue said she 
was surprised when Barron told her he wanted to join the action, but he 
assured her he was up it.
"I'm very proud of him," McTigue said. "I find him very inspirational."