Rep. Farr
One man was beaten by police and assaulted with pepper spray, then charged with felony battery of an officer and resisting arrest when police disrupted a protest by the Santa Cruz (California) Coalition to Stop the Bombing. The May 22 demonstration took place out in front of the McPherson Center, where U.S. Rep. Sam Farr was raising money at a black-tie affair. After voting for war appropriations, the Congressman had already been the target of two anti-war office sit-ins during the previous week. Eleven people were removed from the office on May 14, ticketed for trespass and released on the scene. Fourteen were arrested in the same manner following a sit-in on May 19. Charges from both sit-ins were later dropped.
But the evening demonstration of about 75 people on May 22 quickly got ugly. A boom-box blasted the recorded sound of a cruise missile attack on Belgrade, complete with screaming civilians. The effect was too real for one Farr supporter who attempted a citizen’s arrest of the Yugoslav women holding the boom-box. A fracas ensued as police forcefully intervened and arrested University student Kuo Liang Luo, who was standing nearby.
Because of the arbitrary arrest, the crowd surrounded the van where the woman was being held. One woman, clutching her five-year-old child, stood in front of the police van and refused to move until the officers explained why Kuo Liang had been arrested. Ignoring men who were also blocking the van, one officer wrenched the woman’s arm and another tried to pull her child away. As she was being dragged along the side of the van, she screamed “You’re hurting me!”
Protester Steve Argue intervened, allegedly punching the officer in the nose. The woman escaped the officer’s grip as he and other police chased Argue down and tackled him. Pepper spray was applied directly to his eyes and down his throat, and as he curled into a fetal position, video cameras rolled to see police repeatedly strike Argue with their clubs.
After an hour-long delay, Argue was taken to the hospital for treatment, and then to jail where he was held in a solitary cell for over 72 hours.
He was released after five days in jail after supporters raised $2,000 cash bail and a house for collateral. He has a court hearing on June 23.
Kuo Liang Luo was charged with disturbing the peace. Three others - Jim Cosner, Vinny Lombardo, and Nassim Zerriffi - were also arrested for resisting arrest during the fracas, and Zerriffi additionally charged with misdemeanor assault on an officer. All were released within a few hours. The three men have a June 15 arraignment.
For more information, contact the Santa Cruz (CA) Coalition to Stop the Bombing at (831)423-1448, email: csbis@hotmail.com and the Steve Argue Defense Campaign, c/o Tracie DeAngelis, 234 High St. Apt #3, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. Donations for legal fees will be accepted by the Defense Campaign, payable to the “Steve Argue Defense Fund.”
Rep. Sanders
On the afternoon of April 26, the Instant Antiwar Action Group (some two dozen activists representing the “anarcho-socialist-feminist and anti-racist left in Vermont”) began a sit-in at Representative Bernie Sander’s office in Burlington. First among a long list of gripes with the politician once called an “avowed socialist” and now turned “ardent imperialist,” the group declared “we are in Bernie Sander’s office to help bring a halt to the escalating war in Yugoslavia and the ongoing war against Iraq, both supported by Sanders.”
Sanders was unavailable and unreachable all afternoon, according to staff. After the office closed, staff had fifteen people who refused to leave arrested for trespass. The Sanders 15 were released pending a court date July 6.
For more information, contact the Instant Anti-war Action Group, c/o Will Miller, 10 Machia Hill Road, Westford, VT 05494, (802)879-0288, email: wmiller@zoo.uvm.edu
Sen. Kohl
On May 6, three people enacted a die-in at Senator Herbert Kohl’s office, decrying his vote for the continued bombing of Yugoslavia and Iraq, and the sanctions in Iraq. The office staff told peace workers Ardenne Bunde, Roberta Thurstin, and Don Timmerman that they were inconveniencing the staff, and they would need to close the office. The three told staff that all are inconvenienced by the war, and there is no comparison between their inconvenience and that of the people being bombed.
The three were arrested and held for two days in the county jail. They were then released, and charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct were dropped.
For more information, contact Casa Maria, P.O. Box 05206, Milwaukee, WI 53205, (414)344-5745.
Sen. Liebermann
The Atlantic Life Community recently committed itself to monthly nonviolent actions against war. The first actions took place on June 4, in Hartford and Washington, D.C.
The New Haven and Hartford Catholic Worker communities vigiled against violence in the office of Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a recent outspoken critic of violent rap music, movies, and video games. In two hours of conversation with aides, the Senator’s rap on “virtual violence” was contrasted with his support for real violence, such as the Trident nuclear submarine program and arming the Kosovo Liberation Army, and his blind eye to poverty and the connections between violence abroad, police violence at home, and violent children.
After two hours, Jackie Allen-Douçot, Micki Allen, Steve Borla and Steve Kobasa were arrested for trespass, and released pending court on June 8.
At the Washington, D.C., Catholic Worker’s weekly Friday vigil, six people were arrested for protesting in the restricted zone in front of the White House as they called for an end to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Yugoslavia. All were cited and released, pending trial July 21.
For more information, contact St. Martin De Porres Catholic Worker, 26 Clark St., Hartford, CT 06120, (860)724-7066 and Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, 503 Rock Creek Church Rd., Washington DC 20010, (202)882-9649.