San Francisco -- Police arrested more than two dozen protesters at separate anti-war events in San Francisco on Thursday, including five men who protesters said were veterans of the Iraq war.
The protests were part of a daylong series of more than two dozen events that took place at BART stations around the Bay Area, said Sandra Schwartz, peace education coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee.
"We're doing it because it's the sixth anniversary of the (Iraq) war," Schwartz said. "We wanted to call attention to the fact the war is not over, the occupation of Iraq has not ended, and the occupation of Afghanistan is escalating."
Most of the day's events were musical or spoken word events, Schwartz said.
At a late afternoon event at Civic Center Plaza, protesters blocked Market Street, saying they intended to remain there for 71 minutes of silence - one second for each of the 4,259 members of the U.S. military killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.
After 43 minutes, police stepped in and arrested 11 protesters, including five men identified by organizers as veterans of the Iraq war. Those men were identified by protest organizers as Carl Davison, Peter Schlange, Muhammad Abdullah, Matthew Edwards, and Jordan Towers, all affiliated with Iraq Veterans Against the War.
~ more... ~
No comments:
Post a Comment