UPI Anti-war protesters arrested

[rodeodance]

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/20070317-115354-3959r

Published: March 17, 2007 at 12:58 PM

Anti-war protesters arrested

WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- The late-night start of a rally against the U.S. war in Iraq resulted in dozens of protesters being arrested by police outside the White House.

The demonstrators handcuffed about 11:30 p.m. Friday were among about 100 people who appeared on the sidewalk to pray in a planned act of civil disobedience, The Washington Post said Saturday.


The group was part of a crowd of about 3,000 that had gathered at the Washington National Cathedral for a service marking the fourth anniversary of the war and timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the 1967 march on the Pentagon against the Vietnam War.


Protest leaders hoped tens of thousands of people would show up for a march Saturday afternoon that was to take demonstrators from the Lincoln Memorial, across the Arlington Memorial Bridge, to a Pentagon parking lot. However, inclement weather was a possible factor.


One protestor whose son was killed in Iraq, Celeste Zappala of Philadelphia, said she was at the rally, which was sponsored by Christian Peace Witness for Iraq, to serve "as a witness to the true cost of war, the betrayal and madness that is the war in Iraq."

[DemKR]

1. Since when was the 1st amendment illegal

[lligrd]

2. They Were Arrested For Praying?

Ain't that a kick in the pants? Wonder what Robertson has to say about that?

[Common Sense Party]

3. Who says they were arrested for praying? n/t

[lligrd]

4. It Doesn't Say What They Were Arrested For

except civil disobedience. I was being sarcastic since their disobedience seemed to be gathering together to pray.

[Peace Patriot]

5. You have to "move along" when you visit the White House, that filthy stewpot of

war profiteering, greed, torture and mass murder. You aren't allowed to linger. You can't kneel and pray. And the law is designed to protect you, don't ya know? You might die from the stench.

[Peace Patriot]

6. Heroes all! Kudos and laurel wreaths for praying for this troubled country!

Never, never, never count heads--as a measure of the power of a protest! A couple of priests and their friends--pouring homemade napalm on draft records--resonated through the world in the 1960s. One woman--Rosa Parks--who refused to sit at the back of the bus in the segregated south--sent waves of progressive energy through the population, to correct that terrible wrong. Cindy Sheehan--standing up virtually alone, among the mothers whose children had been killed in an unjust war--inspired us all, in a time of darkness and relentless war propaganda.

This UPI article rightfully downplays the numbers game--likely caused by the crippling snowstorm. It just doesn't matter. It REALLY doesn't. You can put 500,000 people on the streets in a march against this war, and still the Republican and Democratic powers-that-be are deaf to us, because they have fiddled our elections with 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY vote counting code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations, in order to remain unaccountable to the people. So, it takes, not numbers, but passionate moral witness, as well as the practical grass roots work of restoring our right to vote, to change this. These religious folks are reclaiming their religion, according to its initial inspiration of peacefulness, love and forgiveness--from horrible men who would use religion as a delusional narrative to cover up their election thefts, and to kill and torture, to fulfill their own greed for power, and to stuff their pockets.

A protest like this is a beautiful thing, whether one does it, or many. And it has good energy far beyond the numbers of people there. People are not numbers. We are physical expressions of amazing consciousness--the earth reaching out to the universe. We long for peace, good will and creative endeavors of every kind. We are touched by these things--by the courage and outspokenness of others, even if it's half way round the world. If it's truth that is being spoken, we are touched even if we don't hear about it--and very directly and strongly if we do. I am touched. I am heartened. And I am 3,000 miles away. The struggle of each of these human beings--the passion, the commitment, the truth-telling, the willingness to suffer jail--are profoundly moving, and give me hope that the great majority of Americans, who hate this war, can reclaim our democracy.

[intheflow]

7. Christians for Peace!

Not Christians for Evil, such as the war-mongering Christian right. It's nice to hear about Christians who "get" what Jesus was about, for a change. O8)