Other signs demanded that we "Get out of Iraq," "Out of Afghanistan," and "US/Saudi Hands off Bahrain." One objected to the "drone zone" in Pakistan. The most frequent theme was "Free Bradley Manning" — the Army private charged with giving WikiLeaks thousands of classified documents. He has been held in solitary confinement in a Quantico, Va. brig for the better part of a year.
CodePink temporarily took over Pennsylvania Ave. to spell out "Bring Our War $$ Home" with pink umbrellas for a photo-op that required clearing the street. All the other occupants co-operated except for one red-bearded Muslim who habitually comes to pray and preach in the middle of the street. He insisted on carrying out his regular routine.
After three hours of speeches, anti-war protestors marched onto Pennsylvania Ave. and through city streets around Lafayette Park. Returning to Pennsylvania Ave. not long after they left, they swarmed the sidewalk in front of the White House. National Park Service rules don’t permit tourists or protestors to stand in place in that photo-op spot for more than a few minutes.
The Park police waited patiently far longer than that while everyone with cameras took shots of each other chanting in front of the fence. At some point they put up barriers and told all those who didn’t want to be arrested to remove themselves to the other side of the street. When the sorting was complete, 113 people remained to be arrested for refusing to obey an order.
One vet had handcuffed himself to the White House fence, but most were easily moved to the city busses brought in to transport them to a local detention center. They were out of jail by 7:00 p.m., though those who didn’t choose to pay the $100 fine will have to return to court in April.
While small compared to past protests, the action was ideologically diverse. People came from all over the country representing a wide variety of left-wing parties. Their signs mixed with those of libertarians ("End the Fed, End the Wars), environmentalists ("Biofuel — no war required") and a Korean drum corps. In the march that followed one group carried a banner that said "No to War, Yes to Peace," while another chanted "No Justice, No Peace."
When the anti-war protestors took over Pennsylvania Ave, those demonstrating against Quaddafi took over their stage and continued to rally against the dictator. They traded places without trading many words. To the NPS, it was just another day in the park.
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