Widespread Resistance to War Threats: WASHINGTON D.C.

In February, near-daily protests in Washington, D.C., added to the national chorus against war.  Arrests were frequent but prosecution sporadic.

On Saturday, February 21, about 3,000 people marched on the White House.  Six were arrested but charges never filed.

On Ash Wednesday, February 25, after a prayer vigil outside St. Matthew's Cathedral, 30 people marched to the White House where four were arrested.  That evening, Pax Christi USA held a prayer service at New York Presbyterian Church, followed by a vigil at Lafayette Park and a scattering of ashes at theWhite House.  Six more people were arrested and released.  Neither group had charges filed.  

On May 6, five people were arrested in front of the White House, where they held photos of dying Iraqi children recently taken by a Voices in the Wilderness delegation.  Their action was in support of the Iraq Sanctions Challenge departing that day, a delegation of about 100 Americans delivering medical and humanitarian relief to Iraq in open violation of the sanctions.  The five were cited and released pending a July 15 court date.

Updating Washington, D.C. anti-war arrests previously reported in the Nuclear Resister, five people arrested at the White House February 5 while President Clinton met with British Prime Minister Blair had no charges filed.  Among a larger group arrested there on February 12, the seventh anniversary of the U.S. incineration bombing of civilians inside the Amariyah shelter in Baghdad, some paid $50 fines while about a dozen others had charges dismissed after the prosecutor failed to prove the government's case.

As the 100-member Iraq Sanctions Challenge delegation was departing the U.S. on May 6, supporters gathered again opposite the White House to denounce U.S. policy and demand an end to the sanctions.  When the demonstration moved over Pennsylvania Avenue to directly in front of the White House, the police ordered everyone to leave.  Refusing to leave, while holding graphic photographs of dying Iraqi children, were Art Laffin, Ben McMullen, Sr.Carol Gilbert, Elizabeth McAlister, and Sr. Ardeth Platte.  The five activists were arrested and cited for demonstrating without a permit, then released.

For more information, contact
-Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Community, 503 Rock Creek Church Rd. NW, Washington, D.C. 20010, (202)882-9649, and
-Voices in the Wilderness, ACampaign to End the US/UN Economic Sanctions Against the People of Iraq, 1460 West Carmen Ave., Chicago, IL 60640, (773)784-8065; e-mail: kkelly@igc.org

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last updated July 10 1998