http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/23439Protest Planned when Bush meets Putin in Kennebunkport, Maine, on Sunday, July 1st
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2007-06-08 14:00. Activism
A protest march and citizens’ summit is being planned for 1 p.m., Sunday, July 1st, in Kennebunkport, Maine, to coincide with President George W. Bush’s meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
Participants will call for an immediate withdrawal of the troops from Iraq and the impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney. The event is one of two planned for this summer in Kennebunkport.
Marchers will assemble at the Village Green in Kennebunkport and march to the Bush estate. Those attending are asked to park at Kennebunk High School on Fletcher Street. Shuttle buses will be available to transport people into Kennebunkport.
Keynote speaker John Kaminksi, chairman of Maine Lawyers for Democracy, will speak before the march begins, promptly at 1 p.m. Other speakers include David Swanson of “After Downing Street,” and Melida and Carlos Arrendondo, whose son, Alex, died in Iraq in 2005. Music and street theater will also be happening before the speeches. Marchers wanting to participate in the street theater should wear black.
The event is being organized by Jamilla El-Shafei and The Kennebunks’ Peace Department. El-Shafei organized last year’s protest that drew over 700 people of all ages and political persuasion to the small seaside community in Southern Maine.
“This protest will not only call for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq,” El-Shafei says, “it will also protest Bush’s other disastrous policies from the mutilation of the Constitution and the evisceration of habeas corpus to the use of torture and the surveillance of American citizens without warrants.”
Supporters of the July 1st event include MaineImpeach.org, a statewide organization also known as Maine Campaign to Impeach, and Veterans for Peace.
El-Shafei is also organizing a peace and justice rally and march on Saturday, August 25th. Rally speakers will include: Congressman Dennis Kucinich; Cindy Sheehan, who will be running the Camp Casey Peace Institute; Colonel (Ret.) Ann Wright, and peace activists Melida and Carlos Arrendondo. The Indigo Girls are also slated to perform. The event is being endorsed by 34 organizations including the national organizations of Peace Action, Veterans for Peace, and United for Peace and Justice. For more information on the August event go to Kportprotest.org
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PHOTO CAPTION: A march and rally protesting the U.S. war in Iraq is planned for Sunday, July 1, at 1 p.m., in Kennebunkport, Maine, to coincide with President George W. Bush’s meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Shown here are marchers in last summer’s protest as they heard toward the Bush estate from the center of Kennebunkport.
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PLEASE NOTE: Media check-in is in the tent for both occasions.