Posted on 03/24/2008 6:51:53 AM PDT by jdm
A group of anti-war protesters interrupted an Easter Mass in Chicago yesterday, stunning parishioners with their shouts during Cardinal Francis George’s homily. They then squirted stage blood on the congregation, leading to their arrest and an angry confrontation in the gathering space outside the hall. As it turns out, the protesters not only were mostly incoherent, but also very, very late (via Memeorandum):
Six people were arrested at Holy Name parish’s auditorium Sunday after disrupting an Easter mass to protest the Iraq war.
The group—whose female and male members identified themselves as Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War—stood up at the beginning of Cardinal Francis George’s homily and shouted their opposition to the conflict, which marked its fifth anniversary last week. As security guards and ushers tried to remove them from the service, the demonstrators squirted fake blood on themselves and parishioners dressed in their Easter finery.
The red substance, which one protester later described as “stage blood,” initially drew gasps and a few terrified yelps from the 600 worshipers at the mass. The shock, however, quickly transformed into anger as people booed the six while they were escorted from the parish auditorium.
Why did they target the Chicago cathedral? Almost three months ago, Cardinal George met with President Bush. The protesters explained (much later) that the Cardinal should have challenged Bush to end the war during that private meeting. They failed to explain (a) how they know that Cardinal George didn’t do that, and (b) why it took them ten weeks to protest the meeting.
I warned people three weeks ago that the anti-war movement was going to start getting violent. Alan Colmes scoffed at the notion, but assaulting people sitting in church demonstrates that the fringe of the movement has no sense of boundaries, and their frustration at losing in the political process keeps growing. Instead of peacefully protesting outside the cathedral, which is their right to do, they insisted on breaking the law and conspiring to commit multiple acts of battery. This time, they used fake blood. How long before that won’t be enough, and they start trying to draw real blood instead?
Jim Hoft has a roundup of links relating to the story. It turns out that one of the apparent sponsors of this attack is the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian organization. Why is a sponsor of the Palestinian cause sponsoring or at least offering apologetics for an attack on a Catholic Mass? One might expect the news media to ask that question, and to ask whether this is just an anti-war attack or whether it is an anti-Catholic, anti-Christian hate crime.
If that’s not clear enough, let me ask readers what kind of coverage this would have provoked had it been conducted against the worshipers at a mosque. If a group of anti-terrorist protesters had broken into Friday prayers at a Chicago mosque to spray stage blood all over Muslims in protest of al-Qaeda and the Taliban — a little stronger connection than that between the Catholic Church and the war in Iraq — the newspapers would have trumpeted it as a hate crime against American Muslims, followed by weeks of human-interest, anecdotal accounts of how terrible America is to its Muslim citizens.
Update: Via Jim and Carl in Jerusalem, here’s the video:
Notice the little bit of performance art in the middle of this protest, when they fall down shrieking. I’m assuming that’s when they threw stage blood on the parishioners. I’m heartened that they have been charged with a felony in connection to this protest, although I doubt that Chicago will actually follow through on prosecuting it.
Maybe it’s about time that patriots starting kicking the asses of these left-wing moonbats.
Screw turning the other cheek...if I was a parishioner, I would have been throwing punches at these aholes.
Boggles the mind.
I know quite a few Catholics that would have pounded these punks into the pavement!...........
nahhhh.......nice thing about hippies is they have long hair....grab the hair, kick their feet out from under them, and then, walking very fast, drag their asses out of the area....
The cops would have arrested some badly bruised, bloody and incoherent leftists. I would’ve beat the pants off them.
Not literally
I'll turn the other cheek if you insult me, but if you insult the Blessed Sacrament, I will get medieval.
Sounds like the moonbats may have confused Catholics with Quakers. If this keeps up they may be in for a rude awakening.
So what do they think the parishoners will do? “Well, gee, I was going back and forth about how I felt about the war, but after having my church service interrupted on the holiest day of the year and my best dress ruined by fake blood, I just have to be against the war now. If people feel strongly enough to make my life miserable on Easter, they must be correct.”
Right.
If the left keeps this up, the Democrats will be carrying about about six states this fall.
I seem to recall that it is a fairly serious crime to interfere with a legal religious service...
Can someone help me with my recollection?
Anyone could have grabbed that gun, and there would have been no way for the cop to stop him.
Cowardly democrat party vermin attack Catholic Church.
A special place in hell awaits.
I’m sure if protestors had attacked a mosque, the protestors would be charged with every “hate crime” in the book.........
As a Seasoned Citizen (Nam Vet) who lived thru the anti-war acts of disruption (as well acts of actual destruction) its like "Deja vu all over again."
I want to see them try this at some inner-city parish in a place like Pittsburgh or Philly. It would be fun to see these yahoos get a well-deserved ass-thrashing at the hands of a bunch of righteous 70-year-old grannies.
}:-)4
If they had attacked a mosque there would be very little left of the protestors to be charged with a hate crime.
Or, what if a small group of people even gathered outside Obama's church and stood quietly with signs protesting against the BLT church and its support of Wright and his sermon against whites and America? Now, that would have sparked world-wide coverage with nary a drop of fake blood spilled. Moreover, the congregation would had media support from liberal commentators who would have expressed disdain at the pro-American demonstrators exercising their "Freedom of Speech."
But this unacceptable, riot-type, criminal action against a Catholic church, its pastor and people - ON EASTER, when the church is filled with children, and families - gets little news coverage and the church gets no support from most media. Just where is the outrage?? Tell me that the major media is not prejudicial now! These rioters will get away with it...and now the fears that people have been expressing will become reality because a precedent has been set. That being: No demonstrations against black churches, no demonstrations against mosques...but Christians, Catholics, and Jews are okay to target without worry of bad PR or punishment.
I am generally a supporter of law enforcement, but the time I spent in Chicago left me with a very low opinion of the competence, integrity and physical fitness of Chicago police.
L
This is what you get when the lefties shut down the nuthouses.
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