International Briefs

On Ash Wednesday, March 30, the Ministry of Defence in London was visited for the 18th consecutive year by Christian peace activists. In the morning, Chris Cole and Dan Martin wrote on the building with charcoal and ash, traditional symbols of the Lent season preceding Easter, "Trident = Death", "Repent", and "Choose Life." The men were arrested and then released without charge. Later in the day, more than 100 people took part in a peace procession and liturgy of repentance to the MoD, and five more people wrote on the building but were not arrested.

As a prelude to the Summit of the Americas trade talks in Quebec City, April 20-22, more than 80 people were arrested on Ottawa April 2, as they sought public release of the draft text for the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement to be considered at the closed-door summit. About 500 people participated in the protest at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

Some 2,000 Koreans protested U.S. missile defense plans and North Korea policy at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul on April 7. U.S. flags and interceptor missile effigies were burned. About 70 students who chanted "Go home U.S. troops" during a sit-in were arrested.