Day by Day
A Continuing Chronicle of War Resistance

The following continues our effort to bring the chronicle of contemporary war resistance in the United States up to date, following our 15-month publishing haitus from April, 2003 to August, 2004. We know there are still some gaps in this coverage, particularly regarding legal updates and final disposition when charges were not simply dismissed.

This chronicle is a supplement to the Day-by-Day record of war resistance appearing in the Nuclear Resister #132-133, April 24, 2003 (available online at www.nonviolence.org/nukeresister/133iraq.html or as backissue for $5 postpaid.)

The first section includes all new arrest reports from 2003 and 2004.

The second section updates some of the arrests first reported in that issue.

Despite the late date for publishing some of this news, we believe it is important to bring it all together in one place. How else will we come to understand the breadth of our struggle, and learn from each other's experience?

Our tally of anti-war arrests began in the fall of 2002, when the selling of the war against Iraq began. In late September of that year, police rounded up more than 600 antiwar marchers in Washington, DC, on the occasion of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meeting. At the same time, activists in more than a dozen states targeted congressional offices for civil disobedience actions directed at preventing congressional approval of the "use of force" resolution that the administration considers to be its declaration of war.

From that time until the present, more than 9,500 anti-war related arrests have been reported. In many cases, our information about the legal consequences of these arrests is incomplete, and in a handful, the number reported arrested varies a little between sources. The following chronology is in two parts. First, new actions, previously unreported here, followed by updates on arrests reported in the Nuclear Resister #132/133, April 24, 2003.

NEW ACTIONS

10-10-2001 Lynchburg, VA - 1 arrested
Jack Payden-Travers arrested for protesting in a group of more than five people without a permit. Convicted 12/1; charge dismissed on appeal as violating First Amendment.

10-24-2002 Columbia, SC - 1 arrested
Brett Bursey arrested with "No War for Oil" sign, outside designated protest zone. State drops baseless trespass charge; feds pick up prosecution for "threatening" the president and being in a " restricted" zone. In his defense, Bursey, the director of the South Carolina Progressive Network, challenges Secret Service policy permitting such zones. Tried in November, 2003, Bursey was found guilty in January, 2004, and fined $500. He is appealing.

2-12-2003 Chapel Hill, NC - Dean Dome arena - 4 arrested
Four people ran onto court during prime-time broadcast of UNC-Virginia basketball game with anti-war banners. Two acquitted, two sentenced to community service, suspended jail term. One appealed.

2-24-2003 Boston, MA - 11 arrested
Arrested for blockading the downtown military recruiting center. Eight accepted probation sentence for their plea.

3-6-2003 Spokane, WA - Fairchild AFB - 7 arrested
Holding a banner reading "OPPOSE THE WAR - SUPPORT OUR TROOPS", activists blocked the entrance to Fairchild AFB, and were charged with disorderly conduct.

3-9-2003 Washington, DC - 23 arrested
Members of Iraq Pledge of Resistance held memorial service for Iraqi victims on the mall, then processed to the Capitol where arrests occurred. Eleven convicted at trial May 30, fined $50.

3-15-2003 Boston, MA - 1 arrested
Woman arrested blocking traffic on Massachusetts Avenue bridge during anti-war Stand Out.

3-17-2003 Brattleboro, VT - 8 arrested
The downtown National Guard recruiting station was occupied by the Peace Guard, who hung their own banners and placed their own literature on the tables while engaging the Guard recruiters in conversation. Arrested later for trespass as they held a banner proclaiming "Love Your Enemies - Refuse to Kill." Released pending trial.

3-19-2003 Austin, TX - 3 arrested
Members of Campus Coalition for Peace & Justice cited for criminal mischief while chalking demonstration announcements on University of Texas sidewalks - a long-standing tradition. One, PhD candidate Jonathan Bougie, was slammed against wall during arrest, requiring stitches to close wound.

3-19-2003 Plattsburg, NY - 1 arrested
Michael Bedoian left a bushel of composted manure at door of army recruiting office. Pled guilty March 29 to illegal disposal of solid waste; fined $200.

3-20-2003 Alexandria, VA - 1 arrested
Matt Smucker arrested for intersection sit-in; fined $100.

3-20-2003 Bennington, VT - 12 arrested
Rosemarie Jackowski, convicted in September, 2004 of " disorderly conduct with intent to harass and annoy", for stopping with her sign mid-intersection, head bowed, during peace march. Short jail sentence (suspended) and probation. Eleven others pled out before trial.

3/21/2003 Chicago, IL - 69 arrested
Most charged with trespass for blockading the Kluczynski Federal Building.

3-21-2003 Santa Cruz, CA - 13 arrested
In May, district attorney elects not to prosecute for trespass at recruiting center.

3-22-2003 Camden, NJ - federal building - 11 arrested
Cited and released same day. Tried and convicted April 7. Sentenced to 12 hours community service and court fees.

3-24-2003 Salt Lake City, UT - 9 arrested
Three federal building entrances blocked. Four no contest pleas, four convicted on July 21, 2003. All fined $50.

3-29-2003 Tucson, AZ - 1 arrested
Ken Erickson drove his truck, mounted with large speakers and sound system broadcasting homemade "sounds of war" CD to a military academy recruiting event at high school. Parked outside with the sounds blasting, he later entered the auditorium to demand of the congressmen hosting the event why they're spending so much on war, not education and health care. Arrested as he drove, and cited for trespass and noise violation. Jailed six hours, convicted September 12, 2003, and fined $310.

3-30-2003 Tucson, AZ - 1 arrested
Videographer Jeff Imig arrested as he stepped off crowded sidewalk during Cesar Chavez birthday and peace march.

4-1-2003 Portland, ME - 4 arrested
A 24/7 vigil that began March 19 in downtown Monument Square is evicted. Those arrested refuse bail, released 36 hours later on their own recognizance.

4-3-2003 North Andover, MA - 1 arrested
Jonathan Leavitt arrested for trespass during protest of unbalanced war coverage in front of local newspaper office. Found not guilty at September trial.

4/9/2003 Springfield, MA - 14 arrested
Following an interfaith worship service, defendants knelt in prayer where a police line stopped them, ten feet from the doors of the federal building. They were asked to leave after 45 minutes, and arrested for trespass when they refused . At their October, 2003 trial, the state court judge asked: "When do citizens become trespassers on federal property, which constitutionally they own?" Dissatisfied with the prosecutor's answer, the judge acquitted the eleven defendants in court that day.

4-11-2003 Portsmouth, NH - 1 arrested
Paul Pat Morse and about a dozen other protesters blocked the street in Market Square in April. Others left the street when ordered by police to do so, but Morse refused. He was convicted of disorderly conduct in September and served 12 days in jail. Morse wrote, "I am a former sergeant in the United States Air Force and a Vietnam veteran, and as I watched yet another war unfold I felt it was time for me to go beyond vigiling in Market Square and make a symbolic gesture to slow down the killing in Iraq ... As I lay in the street with a steady rain coming down on my face the scene turned somewhat surreal. I heard car horns, police sirens, people yelling. One of the reasons that I was lying there was to be in solidarity with the people in Iraq who were being killed ... I knew that I would be arrested shortly and was no longer nervous, as I had been all day."

4/12/2003 Ashland, OR - 3 arrested
Davis Stone and Alyosha Witness were charged with disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment after burning an American flag at an anti-war rally, and held on $25,000 bond. Another person was cited a few days later for illegal burning at a "somber and dignified" flag burning held in support of the two men. Stone posted bail after 6 days, and Witness after 10 days. Nearly one year later, the charges were dismissed, and the police chief admitted to a misperception of the actual danger in the situation.

4-12-2003 Las Cruces, NM - 1 arrested
At peaceful anti-war vigil, NMSU professor David Boje arrested for refusing to identify himself when confronted by University police. Police were acting on complaint of a nearby sorority that the small group rallying for peace would not move off the public sidewalk by their house. Boje was in chains one hour, then released, and later given as apology.

4-14-2003 Pentagon - 1 arrested
Art Laffin arrested at weekly Pentagon vigil for " solicitation of pamphlets" and released pending court June 6.

4-16-2003 St. Charles, MO - 1 arrested
Christine Manes arrested outside "protest pen" as President Bush addresses workers across the road at Boeing missile and bomb factory. Her 5-year-old daughter was pulled from her arms and held separately until claimed by her father. Four charges include child endangerment; released on signature.

4-17-2003 San Francisco, CA - 8 arrested
Action at the federal building.

4-22-2003 Sunnyvale, CA - 52 arrested
Several action groups converged on weapons giant Lockheed Martin; hundreds block three entrances for hours.

5-3-2003 Crawford, TX - 5 arrested
Activists stopped at roadblock en route to protests at the President's ranch are initially convicted of violating the city's parade law, and fined. In July, 2004, a county judge overturns the conviction and local ordinance on Constitutional grounds.

5-4-2003 Kent, OH - 14 arrested
On the 33rd anniversary of the National Guard shooting four Kent State University students dead during Vietnam War protests, over 300 people marched on campus against the latest war and occupation of Iraq. Without a permit, they turned to city streets. Police had blocked traffic, but as the march filled the street police emerged to surround the marchers. Most moved safely to the sidewalks, but police picked off the pokey ones while commanders pointed out organizers and photographers. Fourteen people were arrested, most for misdemeanors. One woman being moved from one van to another reached down to fix her shoe. Police assaulted her and threw her against the bus window, breaking it. A charge of felony vandalism was later dismissed, as were some of the others.

5-5-2003 New York City, NY - 50 arrested
Operation Homeland Resistance, a coalition of racial justice and immigrant rights groups, organizes three days of 'No More Profiling - No More War' sit-ins at Javits Federal Building.

5-6-2003 New York City, NY - 30 arrested
More Operation Homeland Resistance actions.

5-7-2003 New York City, NY - 3 arrested
More Operation Homeland Resistance actions.

5-15-2003 Indianapolis, IN - 1 arrested
Carl Rising-Moore charged with punching police who tackled him as he "violently" waved a United Nations flag when Bush's motorcade passed by. Refused to post $20,000 bail, and a week later refused $1,000 bail. Jury found him not guilty at July trial.

5-17-2003 Andrews Air Force Base, MD - 2 arrested
Gary Ashbeck and Max Obuszewski arrested while picketing air show at base, from public area near gate. Judge acquits both at trial.

6-7-2003 Portland, OR - 2 arrested
Amy Harwood and Josh Raisler Cohn arrested on bridge facing docked warships where sign hangs: "WEAPONS OF DESTRUCTION, NOTHING TO CELEBRATE".

7-4-2003 Ft. Meade, MD - 3 arrested
Pledge of Resistance activists arrested as they approach National Security Agency. Released later without charges.

8-5-2003 Mesa, AZ - 5 arrested
" Shadow Project" event leads to arrests for violating a city graffiti ordinance. Charges are later dismissed with an apology from the police chief, acknowledging officers had overreacted to the chalked outlines of nuclear war victims intended as a Hiroshima Day protest.

8-14-2003 San Diego, CA - 4 arrested
Four man sit-in blocked road outside Bush fundraiser at Convention Center.

8-16-2003 Groton, CT - Gen. Dynamics shipyard - 5 arrested
At the launch of the first "most versatile ever" Virginia class attack submarine, five men knelt at the curbside pedestrian entrance to the ceremony. They implored those attending not to celebrate a weapon of mass destruction, and instead join them to create a world that is safe for children. Police arrested them on a charge of obstruction when they refused to move from the sidewalk. In September, they pleaded no contest and were fined $35, suspended.

10-4-2003 Ft. Meade, MD - NSA HQ - 5 arrested
Fourteen members of Baltimore Pledge of Resistance, after fruitless written requests for a meeting with the head of the National Security Agency, presented themselves in person. At least 40 police kept them from even the visitor's parking lot, and arrested five who persisted in their right to petition the official. Videotape review of the encounter led to dismissed charges for three. Marilyn Carlisle and Cindy Farquhar were found not guilty of disorderly conduct, guilty of trespass, and fined $260.

10-28-2003 Honolulu, HI - 4 arrested
Army plan to train Stryker brigades in Hawaii brought opponents into exclusive country club where environmental impact hearing was held. Security forces forbid their signs, leading to trespass charges that were dismissed before trial.

10-29-2003 Honolulu, HI - 3 arrested
Phalanx of private security guards faced off with opponents seeking to bring signs into a different exclusive country club for EIS hearing held there (see 10/28, above). Trespass charges dismissed before trial.

11-14-2003 Baltimore, MD - 8 arrested
Fifteen Pledge of Resistance activists, rebuffed by their requests for a meeting with their Senator, visited her office. Sen. Mikulski spoke with them by speaker phone from Washington, but after refusing their request for hearings on Bush's fabricated pretexts for war, she hung up. Eight of the group remained past closing time, in dialogue for six hours with two members of the Senator's staff. Around midnight, after they refused a request to leave, police were called and arrested them all. They were released within 12 hours, and no charges were filed.

12-22-2003 Nashua, NH - 11 arrested
A dozen activists, ranging in age from 17 to 88, chained themselves together to block the driveway into BAE Corporation's Integrated Electronic Warfare Systems Division. Charges of disorderly conduct and trespass were negotiated, and a no contest plea led to sentences of 20 hours community service.

2-24-2004 Boston, MA - 11 arrested
Blockade of downtown military recruiting center by Friends of Haley House Catholic Worker community. Sentenced to probation.

3-19-2004 Milwaukee WI - 9 arrested
Arrests as some of 30 demonstrators in Reuss Federal Plaza crossed police lines. Police refused to arrest Verdell DeYarman, 84, because of her health problems. She told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "I want to be arrested to make a statement. If I die today, I die for a purpose, to say no to war."

3-19-2004 San Francisco, CA - 25+ arrested
Five hundred marchers converged on the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq at the corporate offices of Bechtel, a major profiteer from the occupation. Entrances were blocked and some were arrested before the march moved on to a related housing demonstration where more arrests occurred. Most charges dismissed at arraignment.

3/20/2004 San Francisco, CA - 80 arrested
Mass arrests of the round-up fashion, confining hundreds in a break-away march from 50,000 in the streets. Charges all dismissed in April.

5-7-2004 Washington, DC - 8 arrested
Eight Code Pink activists removed from Senate committee hearing on prisoner abuse in Iraq, after standing to demand the witness, War Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, resign.

5-19-2004 Houston, TX - 5 arrested
In the hotel lobby just outside the Halliburton shareholders meeting, five "Corporate Pigs in Paradise" in snout-faced masks and business suits threw fake money around, then chained themselves to a railing. This gave them time to question and dialogue with shareholders until police could arrest and remove them. Charged with trespass, they posted bond on $5000 bail that night. They later pleaded guilty and were fined.

5-26-2004 Boston, MA - 1 arrested
College student Joe Previtera was charged with disturbing the peace and two felonies: making a false bomb threat and using a hoax device. His street-theater reenactment of the notorious Abu Ghraib photo showing a hooded prisoner, standing on a crate and wired for torture, was carried out for an hour in front of a downtown military recruiting center. The charges were later dismissed after widespread protest and derision.

6-5-2004 Groton, CT - 6 arrested
Protesting outside the shipyard at the christening of the USS Jimmy Carter, the third Seawolf class nuclear submarine, four were cited for obstructing free passage, and two for disorderly conduct.

7-3-2004 Ft. Meade, MD - 3 arrested
While attempting again to deliver a letter to the director of the National Security Agency, three people were charged with trespass, and released pending a federal court hearing 10/22.

7-10-2004 Highland Park, NJ - 1 arrested
The Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War's weekly peace vigil was disrupted by police, who cited serial peace chalker Leigh Davis with criminal mischief. The offending markings had been on a nearby public wall since shortly after the vigil was started. Charge dismissed in court July 21.

7/13/2004 Duluth. MN - 5 arrested
Bush in Duluth drew two Catholic Workers into the path of his motorcade, bearing a banner reading "The Poor Can't Eat Your Weapons." The judge dismissed the charges of "obstructing the legal process" because the state failed to prove aggressive behavior, a necessary element of the crime.Michael Larson interrupted Bush's speech by shouting "Shame!", and pled not guilty to disorderly conduct. He will stand trial October 21, alongside Beth Olson and Angela Nichols, gay rights advocates arrested at the door as they tried to enter.

7/28/2004 Edina, MN - 4 arrested
At the weekly peace vigil outside the ammunition factory operated by Alliant Tech, Wisconsin Green Party congressional candidate Mike Miles and three others from Anathoth Community were charged with trespass. They crossed the line to talk to the company brass about soldiers and depleted uranium, a product of the plant.

8-17-2004 New York City, NY - 4 arrested
While the current and two former mayors rolled out the welcome mat for Republican National Convention protesters with offers of museum and restaurant discounts, Code Pink women unrolled a huge pink banner from a window of the Sheraton Hotel, across the street from the mayors' press conference. The banner read: "They Say Welcome, We Say Where? 8/29 Central Park?" to point out the hypocrisy in "welcoming" the RNC protesters while refusing to give them a rally permit for the huge event on August 29.

8-18-2004 Edina, MN - 3 arrested
At the weekly vigil, Joel Kilgour, Rachel Johnson and Michael Larson attempted to deliver a platter of bloodied money to Alliant Tech chairman Paul David Miller in Edina, MN. They were stopped at the door and cited for trespass after police had to remove them from the area. They await a trial date.

9-16-2004 Hamilton, NJ - 1 arrested
Sue Neiderer was arrested for trespass after interrupting First Lady Laura Bush at campaign event to ask why her Army son was killed in Iraq. Charge later dismissed.

10-2-2004 Washington, DC - 28 arrested
On Gandhi's birthday, the National Memorial Procession walked from the Pentagon, past Arlington National Cemetery, to rally at the White House. Last-minute permit change moves rally and thousand-coffin display farther away; Military Families Speak Out leads delegation past police line. Two fathers of Iraq war fatalities are among those charged with violating park closure rules and released pending court date December 15.

UPDATED REPORTS

9-25-2002 Seattle - Senate offices - 12 arrested
On March 24, 2003, Jean Buskin and Anne Hall went to jail, serving 19 and 5 days, respectively. Probation sentence for 10 others.

12-5-2002 Englewood, CO - 8 arrested
Found guilty of trespass at Sen. Allard's office, 7/25/03.

12-10-2002 Nashua, NH - BAE Systems - 3 arrested
Charges of trespass at arms plant dismissed at trial.

12-20-2002 Duluth, MN - 2 arrested
For recruiting office protest, Joel Kilgour and Michele Naar-Obed each served 30 days in jail, May - June, 2003.

1-16-2003 Tucson, AZ - federal building - 6 arrested
Convicted in city court of trespass, 6/14/04; sentenced to community service.

1-19-2003 Washington, DC - 16 arrested
All "Friends of Phil Berrigan" who crossed a barrier at the White House were convicted in April, $50 fines suspended.

2-4-2003 Boston, MA - 2 arrested
Ninety days probation for sit-in at Sen. Kerry's office.

2-21-2003 Tucson, AZ - 5 arrested
Die-in defendants convicted of trespass at Sen. McCain's office and sentenced to fine or community service.

2/27/2003 Somerville, MA - Tufts Univ. - 6 arrested
Bush Sr. hecklers removed from auditorium at Tufts University, but no charges filed.

3-1-2003 Towson, MD - Shopping Mall - 8 arrested
Nearly one year later, mall drops "ban for life" against leafletters and prosecutor declines to prosecute, leaving first amendment issue unsettled.

3-8-2003 Phoenix, AZ - Peace march - 6 arrested
Judge irritated by police provocation acquits one; last charge dropped when arresting officer unable to testify because his license had been revoked. Other charges dismissed earlier.

3-12-2003 Los Angeles, CA - 7 arrested
L.A. Catholic Workers Catherine Morris and Martha Lewis served 15 days in federal prison beginning late January, 2004, for trespass at federal building.

3-13-2003 Chicago, IL - Boeing headquarters - 11 arrested
Seven were convicted October 5 and sentenced next day to conditional discharge or supervision. In the case of David Corcoran, released October 1 after six months in prison for trespass at the School of the Americas, he must wear an ankle-locked monitor for one month, beginning in January. Four others had earlier entered pleas and served no jail time.

3-14-2003 Vandenberg AFB, CA - 1 arrested
Dennis Apel served two months in prison for pouring blood on the main gate sign.

3-15-2003 Aurora, CO - 19 arrested
In April, 2003, a jury acquitted four and convicted 13 on misdemeanor charges from sit-in at Buckley Air National Guard. A juvenile's prosecution was deferred. Two Aurora police officers, posing as a couple, had infiltrated the action group. According to the Rocky Mountain News, 12/27/03, Sgt. Tim O'Brien of the Aurora Police Department's intelligence unit, "testified the agents were planted because the demonstrators had announced they were going to commit a crime, namely the acts of civil disobedience. But [O'Brien] said he had no way of knowing if the demonstrators were telling the truth. 'We wanted to make sure that their real plans weren't to suddenly stage a riot and start throwing bricks and bottles and stuff like that,' O'Brien said, and pointed to demonstrations in other parts of the country that did get out of control. 'Who's to say that a member of a very violent faction joins this organization and starts to preach violent protest and-or turns it into a violent protest while it's going on - that we don't know,' O'Brien said."

3-15-2003 Tucson, AZ - No War March - 3 arrested
Charges dismissed, prosecution diverted.

3-17-2003 Ithaca, NY - 4 arrested
After 20 hours of deliberation during the April, 2004 trial, the jury was deadlocked - three for conviction, nine for acquittal on felony criminal mischief charges resulting from blood-pouring throughout a recruiting office. The defendants, all Catholic Workers, had been denied all motions to introduce expert testimony about international law and the effects of invasion. Acting as their own attorneys with eloquent effect, however, they used their jury voir dire, opening statements and sworn testimony to persuade most of the jury of their conviction that they had a right and a duty to be in the office taking nonviolent measures to stop recruitment for the imminent war, and they strongly felt they had reasonable belief that their action was right, justified and legal.

3-17-2003 Salt Lake City, UT - 10 arrested
Eight came to federal court in July, 2003. Four pled no contest, and four were convicted of blocking access to federal building. $50 fines.

3-19-2003 Milwaukee, WI - 9 arrested
Corrected date (from 3/20) and # arrested (from 2) at federal building.

3-19-2003 Washington, DC- 26 arrested
Gary Ashbeck refused to pay $50 fine or do community service, so served 30 days in July, 2003.

3-20-2003 Albany, NY - street blockade - 21 arrested
Correction: 21 not 15 reported arrests.

3-20-2003 Albuquerque, NM - 17 arrested
Complaints of excessive force by those arrested during a march prompt civil rights lawsuit by 14 plaintiffs, including two minors.

3-20-2003 Bangor, ME - 16 arrested
Justice Allen Hunter of the Maine Superior Court had this to say, upon sentencing Nancy Galland, 60, and Richard Stander, 71, to 20 hours community service:"I remember that in the 1960s there were actions of civil disobedience that, eventually, made our life better," he said. "We all have derived benefits from acts of civil disobedience like the Boston Tea Party. That act of civil disobedience has played an extremely important and vital political role in our history. From time to time in our history, we see events that involve civil disobedience that make us all uncomfortable," said Hunter. "I'm not sure that's a bad thing." (Bangor Daily News, 11/1/03) A jury had earlier convicted them both of trespass during protest at U.S. Senators' offices.Earlier in the year, fourteen others were sentenced to suspended 2-day jail terms, fines and/or community service.

3-20-2003 Berkeley, CA - 120 arrested
Criminal charges from university sit-in were quickly dropped, but three UC Berkeley students were convicted in absentia of " disturbing the peace" by a university disciplinary panel.

3-20-2003 Binghamton, NY - 12 arrested
Twelve were arrested at federal building (originally reported as 6). Some entered pleas, others convicted for trespass. Fines paid and community service done.

3-20-2003 Chicago, IL - mass arrests - 900 arrested
All charges were eventually dropped or thrown out of court. Civil rights suit filed against city by National Lawyer's Guild; city countersuit seeks reimbursement for costs under rarely used law.

3-20-2003 Philadelphia, PA - 104 arrested
Eighty refused to pay $250 for "summary offense" and went to trial. Several small groups were convicted and 27 people served seven days in jail for their refusal to pay a fine. On October 20, six more people, including Quaker peace activist, Lillian Willoughby, age 90, will go to jail for 7 days.

3-20-2003 Pittsburgh, PA - mass arrest - 122 arrested
Most pled no contest, had record cleared after 80 hours community service. One charge dismissed, and three people convicted at trial of obstruction and failure to disperse, sentenced to 100 hours community service and $150 fine.

3-20-2003 San Francisco, CA - 1500 arrested
Correction from 1,200 reported arrests. Reports varied, but the National Lawyer's Guild estimated that in the two days, March 20-21, at least 2,300 people were arrested throughout the city as widespread anti-war protest disrupted much of normal commerce and traffic. In late June, 2003, citations issued these days were all dismissed.

3-20-2003 Tucson, AZ - federal building - 8 arrested
Charges dropped for 7 people arrested for die-in on street already blocked by police. Keith McHenry convicted of assault and criminal damage after Marine with bullhorn, one of many who barged into crowd of demonstrators, accused the Food Not Bombs co-founder of pushing him into a fountain. One police "witness" acknowledged he did not see the alleged assault, because his attention was taken by another demonstrator demanding the officer do something about the Marine who had just shoved him aside. Sentence: 40 hours community service, one year probation and $119 restitution for the bullhorn.

3-21-2003 Allentown, PA - 11 arrested
Community service sentence in May, 2003, for all who sat-in at Rep. Pat Toomey's office, in return for guilty or no contest pleas.

3-21-2003 Belfast, ME - street blockade - 3 arrested
Maureen Ostensen and Nan Stone pled no contest in May, 2003, and were sentenced to time served after their arrest - two days in jail. Larry Dansinger pled guilty and was fined $100.

3-21-2003 Duluth, MN - 10 arrested
One pled guilty, seven others convicted in September, 2003, and fined $100 for trespass at federal building.

3-21-2003 Prescott, AZ - street blockade - 7 arrested
Five people were convicted of failure to heed an order from an officer, and one, who the judge doubted could hear the order, was acquitted. Sentenced to probation and 16 hours community service. Another had earlier pled guilty and did 2 days of community service.

3-21-2003 San Francisco, CA - 800 arrested
Responding to the National Lawyer's Guild tactic of supporting everyone's right to trial or dismissals for all charged during these two days of mass arrests, city supervisor Tony Hall groused: "Destroying the economy of San Francisco and other parts of the country, that's the real mission of the NLG. They know it costs a lot to prosecute these people and they want to make it tough. It's not playing within the rules."

3-22-2003 Johnston, IA - Nat'l Guard - 16 arrested
Thirteen found guilty of trespass in August, 2003; fined $200 plus costs.

3-22-2003 Los Angeles, CA - blockade - 78 arrested
Most charges from march on CNN to protest war cheerleading are dismissed as part of diversion from prosecution agreement.

3-22-2003 San Francisco, CA - 40 arrested
See San Francisco, 3-20-03.

3-22-2003 Tucson, AZ - 1 arrested
Keith McHenry was acquitted of anti-war "tabling without a permit" at major arts & crafts fair.

3-22-2003 Vandenberg AFB, CA - 3 arrested
Sanderson Beck served 4 months in prison; Sister Mary Pat and Sheila Baker are on 3 years supervised probation.

3-24-2003 St. Paul, MN - 28 arrested
Sen. Colman requested the charges of trespass at his office be dismissed, and they were.

3-27-2003 Madison, WI - 2 arrested
Inflated charges against demonstrators peppersprayed at recruiting center protest are dismissed.

4-1-2003 Saratoga Springs, NY - 1 arrested
Michael Bedoian pled guilty in August, 2003, to two counts of disorderly conduct and one of resisting arrest. Felony assault charges were dismissed, and for three years Bedoian is to keep clear of the navy housing project where the altercation with police ended his anti-war leafletting of incoming traffic. He was also fined $220 and agreed to a psychological evaluation by a doctor of his own choice.

4-7-2003 New York City, NY - 100 arrested
Two arrestees were acquitted of disorderly conduct, all others' charges were dropped, and the activists are now suing the city over their illegal arrests during day of action outside war profiteer Carlyle Group offices.

4-7-2003 Oakland, CA - Port - 31 arrested
In late April, 2004, all criminal charges were dropped.

4-12-2003 Washington, DC - 3 arrested
The Partnership for Civil Justice filed Frucht et Morales v. District of Columbia in D.C. Federal Court in April, 2004. The lawsuit seeks to recover damages (Frucht's beating was caught on videotape) and also asks for an injunction against the police's use of motorcycles and bicycles as weapons against peaceful marchers, the use of police and cycle lines to flank marchers and prohibit persons from leaving or joining demonstration activities, and the use of the rush tactic, in which police officers charged and assaulted assembled demonstrators.

4-14-2003 Englewood, CO - 6 arrested
Guilty of trespass at Sen. Allard's office, fined $50. Sixth " defendant" Darren Christensen was in fact an undercover sheriff's deputy, who testified that most of such work he did involved being solicited on-line for deviant sex. Defendants were outraged. "We're lumped in with pedophiles . . . it was like, whoa," defendant Sara Jane Gerardi told the Rocky Mountain News. Christensen attended nonviolence training with the others yet testified he remained concerned about weapons until the end, simply because they were visiting a Senator's office. As reported in the News, supervising Sgt. Al Holstein told the court he "wanted Christensen to build up rapport that could be useful in monitoring the group in the future. 'Yeah, in case, down the road we would do that again, and he could go to other protests, organizational meetings, or whatever, just to gather intelligence in the future,' Holstein said."

4-14-2003 Lexington, MA - Raytheon - 3 arrested
Judge ordered "unsupervised pretrial probation" leading to dismissal of charges.

The Nuclear Resister
October 2004