Camera Crews Threatened With Arrest for Filming Peace Demonstration
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2007-01-30 17:04. Evidence
By Jeeni Criscenzo
Monday morning - the cold wind nipping at the few exposed square inches of my face reminded me that some higher power must have intercepted on our behalf last Saturday when half a million people had encircled the Capitol complex during a perfectly-timed respite from the frigid temperatures and wind that book ended the event. Surely the Gods were smiling on the peace movement. As I walked the dozen blocks from my hotel, I thought about the campaign I’d waged in the prior 18 months to be elected as one of the representatives I would be meeting with this day, and wondered if, in the end, I would be more effective as a activist citizen than an elected official. Essentially I was still working for the same thing, only now my job was to convince those who had been chosen by the people to serve us, to carry out the promises I’d made as a candidate.
I was met in the Rayburn building (the first of three office buildings lined up on one side of the Capitol for Representatives’ offices) down in the basement cafeteria. Over oatmeal, eggs and coffee and fruit, hundreds of peace-activists-turned-lobbyists-for-a-day were planning their strategies. Included in the bustle were seventeen folks from the San Diego area. We had appointments with all five of the representatives (or their staff) for the San Diego area, scheduled throughout the day. We planned to visit them collectively with the constituents for each specific district being the spokespersons for that meeting. Our first visit was with the Chief of Staff for Duncan Hunter.
Hunter was off in New Hampshire stumping for his presidential campaign. His office décor defined him as a man making too much of an effort to flaunt his testosterone. A deer head and other dead trophies adorned the walls along with photos of Hunter and his triumphant hunting buddies. I didn’t see one of him with Cheney. Hunter’s COS was a pleasant young woman who didn’t seem to be familiar with the bills we were talking about, and wasn’t taking many notes. Someone asked if she would be the one actually acting as our representative while Hunter is our stumping on the campaign trail. Either way. I don’t think we accomplished much other than to initiate what we intend to be an ongoing effort to lobby for peace.
We’d heard that at noon there was going to be a peace vigil at the reflecting pool just opposite the cafeteria in the Rayburn building. Our group walked into the atrium area where beyond a glass wall and doors the vigil was already in progress. Scattered on the frozen surface of the pool were hundreds of roses. On the far side of the pool a large black banner with the word WAR appeared to be draped over some shrubbery. Someone was reading out names and with each name someone was ringing a bell and tossing a white rose on the pool which slid gracefully across the surface. It was a beautiful ceremony and unquestionably worth braving the cold. As we donned our coats and scarves and gloves and headed out the door, we were suddenly blocked by a policeman.
“Whoa! That’s it, nobody’s going out there! This is a police action. Stay where you are!” he called out. His interruption was so unexpected, that my first thought was that there had been a terrorist threat against the Capitol. It really took me a while to comprehend that the peaceful vigil outside the door was the problem. Some of our group had already gone through the door before we were stopped and were now looking back at us in confusion. Dave Wiley of San Diego Vets for Peace tried to explain to the officer that there was nothing to worry about, this was just a peaceful vigil. Anyone in their right mind could see nothing threatening was happening. But the officer, who was now joined by others, insisted that we could not go outside until it was determined what was going on . .......(more)
The complete article is at:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/17895
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