Posted on 12/31/2007 3:42:35 PM PST by DogByte6RER
Activists planning protest at Rose Parade
By: North County Times wire services
PASADENA - Peace activists said Sunday they plan to protest and unfurl signs during the Rose Parade on Tuesday, and then march down Colorado Boulevard as the parade ends, calling for an end to the Iraq war and for the impeachment of the president and vice president.
A group calling itself the White Rose Coalition said its members plan to demonstrate in front of the TV camera platforms at the Norton Simon Museum starting at 6 a.m. New Year's Day.
Pasadena police said Sunday they had just heard of the plans, and were checking on police responses. An official said the police department would make an announcement on how the protest would be handled later Sunday.
A spokesman for the coalition, Peter Thottam, said organizers plan to start demonstrating during pre-parade telecasts at 6 a.m. An internet site operated by the Coalition says activists will unfurl a banner and demonstrate as the Port of Los Angeles float passes by the grandstands on Colorado Boulevard east of Orange Grove Boulevard, at about 9 a.m.
Thottam said organizers have been promised by the Pasadena police and Tournament of Roses officials that they will not be arrested if they do not hold up signs as to block other persons' views.
"Everything we are doing is strictly within our First Amendment rights, and we do not want to interrupt anyone's enjoyment of the parade," he said Sunday. "We have made it clear to every participant that we want to be respectful."
Thottam, a lawyer and former political candidate for the Green Party, acknowledged that "there are some people who will get out of hand, and we have no control over everyone. We are a decentralized group simply trying to get our message out through the mainstream media blockade, especially about the impeachment of the president of the United States."
Peace activist Cindy Sheehan reportedly will also attend, Tottham said, to call for the immediate pullout of troops from Iraq, and for the impeachment of President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
Tournament of Roses president CL Keedy told KTLA news that "there are rules and there are laws that have to be obeyed."
"Public safety officers will enforce those laws and it's up to the networks if they want to show those events," he told Channel 5.
The peace protest will take place at the same parade that is targeted this year by activists protesting the human rights record of China. They have called on parade spectators to turn their backs on the Beijing Olympics float as it moves down the parade.
Peace protest organizers said they plan to march right behind the parade street sweepers for several blocks east down Colorado Boulevard, then branch off for a rally at the Pasadena City Hall, two blocks north of the parade.
The White Rose Coalition includes members of Code Pink, a group that has dogged Sen. Hillary Clinton and other politicians they consider too hawkish on the war in Iraq. Other members include Veterans for Peace and members of the Green Party.
The name is taken after a short-lived resistance movement to Nazi power in Munich in 1942.
Perhaps there’ll be a fortuitous float malfunction, or a runaway herd of horses...
Perhaps there’ll be an over-ripened-fruit & vegetable stand near the venue?
Poor old Cindy-——still at it,huh?
That's right where my wife and her sisters sit. I think Cindy Sheehan has met her match.
Hell hath no fury like a woman who's Rose Parade ritual has been messed with.
I'll probably hear about it on the news first.
Oh, good. Finally a reason to watch that thing.
That being said, I'd like to see Bush prosecuted and jailed for aiding and abetting this violent illegal invasion of our country.
Perhaps all 270+ members of the USC Trojan Marching Band will grind them into the pavement, while not missing a beat of “Fight On!”
Is Fight On the name of the song they play after every down?
Hopefully they will take out Michaela Pereira too
Truly disgusting. This parade is sacred, but not to the looney-bats. I heard there will also be a “protest” re a float entry from China. News flash: China has had a float in the parade every year for at least the past two decades...
“Might I suggest using your nightstick, officers”... .
Cindy IS an over-ripened fruit.
Four Hornets landed at Burbank a few ago.
They are going to drop napalm on those idiots manana
LOL. We can dream...;^)
Good one. I love it. Welcome to Free Republic.
Maybe they should stand with the illegal aliens and their Mexican flags.
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