VID LINK- catholic worker Crew Arrested in Anti-Gitmo Action at White House

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Tuesday April 24, 2007 04:13 by D

VID LINK

http://www.witnesstorture.org/node/601

CHARGES DISMISSED FOR ANTI-TORTURE ACTIVISTS, BUT FOURTEEN OF THEM ARE LATER ARRESTED AT THE WHITE HOUSE

On April 18, 2007 at 9:30 AM, around fifty anti-torture activists went
to U.S. District Court, 333 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. for
trial to face a charge of disorderly conduct as a result of a January
11 arrest in the atrium of the same courthouse. Courthouse officials
seemed surprised that the defendants appeared in Magistrate Judge
Deborah Robinson's courtroom.

After the Jan. 11 arrest, most of those in custody refused to provide
any identification and simply gave the name of a Guantanamo Bay
detainee. Presumably, the government did not expect any of the
eighty-nine individuals arrested to appear for trial as they were
released with John and Jane Doe citations. While the prosecutors,
Judge Robinson and the marshals deliberated behind closed doors, the
defendants began reading names and stories of the men being illegally
detained at the Guantanamo gulag.

Since the government was unprepared for a trial, a large majority of
the defendants decided to leave the courthouse at 10:15 AM in order to
march through the city and call for the closure of the detention
center at Guantanamo Bay. Once outside, they donned the infamous
orange jump suits and black hoods which are worn by those illegally
interned in Cuba. At 11 AM, those defendants who remained in court
were informed that the government would dismiss all eighty-nine cases.

The orange-clad anti-torture advocates marched to the Rayburn House
Office Building, the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice and
finally the White House. At each site, the advocates demanded justice
and due process for the detainees. At the White House, to emphasize
the dire conditions faced by the detainees, fourteen of the
demonstrators locked themselves to the White House fence on
Pennsylvania Ave. After about an hour, the U.S. Park Police brought
out bolt cutters to sever the locks and took the resisters into
custody.

During the White House demonstration, there were large numbers of
tourists and students on spring break who witnessed the action.

Coincidentally, representatives of Code Pink came to the White House
to chant antiwar slogans as George W. Bush was to meet with Rep. Nancy
Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid to discuss supplemental funding of the war
in Iraq. Cindy Sheehan and her sister Dede Miller joined with Code
Pink to enthusiastically support the demonstration demanding the
closure of Guantanamo Bay.

After the prisoners were taken to the Park Police jail in Anacostia,
those not arrested renewed their commitment to condemn the
government's use of torture and its denial of due process rights to
"enemy combatants." Nonviolent civil resistance will continue as a
number of anti-torture events are being planned and organized.

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