-White House & Pentagon  
The Atlantic Life Community's Faith and Resistance gathering in August demonstrated at the World Bank and Israeli Embassy without any arrests, but police at the Pentagon proved more easily perturbed. Holding protest signs at a Pentagon entrance now results in certain arrest, so on the morning of August 6, people lined up in order near the South entrance after placing large tape letters on their shirts, spelling out NO HIROSHIMA. Catholic Workers Lenore Yarger and Chris Schweitzer exceeded the limits when they knelt with a banner reading "Hiroshima Never Again!" and recited the prayer of St. Francis with the others. The two were arrested, cited and released.

Tuesday, August 7, the group gathered at the World Bank building, then processed to the White House where they were joined by a group of North Koreans protesting U.S. military threats. On Wednesday, they gathered outside the Israeli embassy, chanting "Free Vanunu" in English and Hebrew, and reading a statement in support of the imprisoned nuclear whistleblower. The group also called for an end to the occupation and peace for all the people of the region. Sharing meals and hearing first-hand from witnesses to war in Colombia, Hiroshima, Israel/Palestine, and Vieques, participants in the retreat prepared to return to the Pentagon on Nagasaki Day, August 9.

That Thursday morning, five women entered the Pentagon at the River entrance and were arrested. See the article, 'Planting the Seeds of Nonviolence', for an account of this action. Four other protesters were arrested outside - three men who refused to put down their signs, and one woman who was walking backwards away from the scene, mouth taped, holding a blank sign.

PENTAGON UPDATE

Erin Leitner-Sieber and Scott Kenji Warren were convicted July 20 in federal district court in Alexandria, Virginia, of throwing an object at a building - namely blood on the Pentagon - last April. Three people who had joined in the action but were not charged testified to their own complicity in the symbolic naming action and peace witness that took place on Good Friday. Leitner-Sieber was sentenced to six months in prison, and Warren to three months.

For more information, contact Jonah House, 1301 Moreland Ave., Baltimore, MD 21216, (410)233-6238 or Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, 503 Rock Creek Church Rd. NW, Washington, DC 20010, (202)882-9649.

Letters of support should be sent to Erin Sieber #27024-083, FDC Philadelphia, POB 562, Philadelphia, PA 19105.