Demonstrators Sunday were taken into custody after entering Fort Huachuca property. (Beatrice Richardson, Herald/Review)
Video at the bottom of the source.
Posted on 11/16/2009 4:30:52 PM PST by SandRat
FORT HUACHUCA — With five individuals taken into custody Sunday by fort law enforcement officers, the sixth annual protest against the post ended.
For the Rev. Jerome Alexander Zawada, a Franciscan Roman Catholic priest from Tucson, Sunday was at least the second time he was taken into custody for illegally entering the installation.
He and three others — John Edward Heid of Tucson, E. Robert Carney Jr., of Tucson, and Mariah D. Klusmire of Albuquerque, N.M.— were all given letters prohibiting them from post property for a year, fort spokeswoman Tanja Linton said. After receiving their letters, they were released at the fort’s East Gate.
One other unidentified man, who refused to give his name, was turned over to the FBI for further action, she said.
This year’s event, called “the annual infestation of protesters,” by a counter-protester who did not want to be identified, had fewer people than past ones.
About 100 protesters and about the same number of counterprotesters showed up. In past years, the numbers on both sides were in the few hundreds.
Like every other year, there were the same charges and countercharges.
Those who claim the fort has had and may still have a hand in teaching torture in its military interrogation courses demand a stop to such practices.
Fort officials say no such training is done in any course taught on the post and emphasized that Army regulations prohibit the use of torture as a tactic to elicit information.
This year, the protesters added a new issue to their concerns: that the fort is where soldiers are trained to operate unmanned aerial systems.
The protesters fear weaponized versions of the pilotless planes are being used, and that they are taking innocent lives in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other places.
The Army does not have any weaponized unmanned aircraft, although the service is planning to put weapons on some, as the Air Force and CIA have.
To counterprotesters, those who are against the fort lack a sense of reality, patriotism and common sense.
As patriotic music wafted across Fry Boulevard — the unofficial no man’s land between the two groups — counterprotesters yelled support for the fort, echoed by many drivers who honked as they passed.
Motorcyclists constantly drove by the protesters, with flags flying from their vehicles. But this year, the loud and constant, revving of motorcycle engines to drown out the protesters did not occur as much, as it did in past years.
Keeping the peace between the two groups were law enforcement personnel from the Sierra Vista Police Department and the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Security on the post was under the direction of the fort’s law enforcement contingent.
While most of the protesters remained on the north side of the boulevard and the counter-protesters on the south side, they occasionally did — for short periods of time — cross onto each other’s turf, although not as much as in past years.
When the quintet was taken into custody, some people from both sides crossed Buffalo Soldier Trail to watch what was happening, many taking photos and videos.
There they saw Zawada and some of the other protesters kneeling and one protester — the one who refused to give his name — lying on the ground.
He had to be carried off by MPs.
At 3 p.m., the time the protesters’ three-hour permit ended, they began to walk away from their area, as counter-protesters jeered them.
Demonstrators Sunday were taken into custody after entering Fort Huachuca property. (Beatrice Richardson, Herald/Review)
Video at the bottom of the source.
Not the best time to be illegally entering a U.S. military post right now...
What a waste of time.
No we just grow em BIG out here. lol
the sixth annual protest against the post... claim the fort has had and may still have a hand in teaching torture... This year, the protesters added a new issue to their concerns: that the fort is where soldiers are trained to operate unmanned aerial systems.Thanks SandRat.
Professional losers can’t even get shot anymore.
Pat and the crew from Tucson did a good Job.
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