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Last updated: Friday, March 21, 2003
19 protesters arrested for trespassing in Bangor
BANGOR - Police arrested 13 protesters Thursday at the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building on Harlow Street, and six more at U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe's office at One Cumberland Place on Thursday evening. All were charged with criminal trespassing.Dozens more participated in demonstrations against the U.S. invasion of Iraq at both Bangor locations, and in actions around the state. About 125 marched through downtown Belfast at noon, where one woman set fire to an American flag.
At noon at the Bangor federal building, protesters attempted to occupy the second-floor office of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, but were told by the building's security personnel that only three people could go up to her office. In protest, the group sat in a circle between the glass doors and blocked the X-ray machines in the first-floor lobby, causing one set of the building's doors to be closed temporarily, according to Police Chief Don Winslow.
Meanwhile, former Republican state legislator and congressional candidate Dick Campbell of Holden said he is organizing a Support the Troops rally from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of Hogan Road and Bangor Mall Boulevard.
"We're encouraging people to bring U.S. flags, family and friends, and a veteran," Campbell said.
Now that war has begun, he said troops "need our support now more than ever."
On Thursday, the federal building protesters accused Snowe and Collins of abdicating their "constitutional authority by granting George Bush an open-ended right to launch war against Iraq without U.N. Security Council authority," said a statement by the Eastern Maine Peace and Justice Center.
At Snowe's office, 10 people arrived about noon and refused to leave until the senator spoke with them by telephone from Washington. A man and two women lay on the floor, with bicycle locks around their necks, which were hooked together, forming a chain.
A dozen police officers asked those occupying the office to leave when the office building closed at 5:30 p.m. Three of those remaining in the office left. But six refused and were arrested: Karen Saum, 68, of Bucksport; Amanda Kendall, 32, of Bar Harbor; Rob Fish, 24, of Bar Harbor; Jeffrey Black, 25, of Bar Harbor; Kyla Hershey-Wilson, 21, of Bar Harbor; and Megan Gilmartin, 19, of Trenton.
Black, Hershey-Wilson and Gilmartin refused to provide police with the keys to the bicycle locks. A locksmith was summoned to the office at 6:10 p.m., but was unable to pick the locks.
Police offered to drop the charges against the three if they produced the keys, but they refused. The protesters later agreed to comply if Snowe aide Gail Kelly could get Snowe to agree to meet with the protesters today. Kelly was unable to contact Snowe.
The Bangor Fire Department was summoned and used a large electric snipping tool to snap open the three-quarter-inch-thick locks.
In a statement, the protesters at the federal building claimed their efforts to convince the senators to oppose the "elective" war were ignored or trivialized. They refused to leave until the senators signed a prewritten proclamation stating the United States should bring troops home now.
Just after 2 p.m., each of the protesters was placed in plastic restraints by police and escorted one at a time to waiting vans provided by the Penobscot County Sheriff's Department. They were then taken to Penobscot County Jail, where they all later made the bail of $40. The misdemeanor charge carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail or a $500 fine.
One couple was dragged and one person was carried out of the building. Protesters outside repeatedly chanted, "Patriots for peace."
"War is a crime against the planet," said Penobscot resident Ron King as he was helped into a waiting sheriff's department van.
In a written statement, Collins thanked the protesters for voicing their objections. She said she has "consistently advocated multilateral and diplomatic means to resolve the crisis" and blamed Saddam Hussein for failing to abide by the surrender agreement he signed in 1991 and his refusal to leave Iraq.
"Ultimately, [Saddam] bears the responsibility for the war that is now occurring," Collins said.
Later in the afternoon, a "Bread, Not Bombs" rally brought more than 80 people to both sides of Harlow Street in front of the federal building. Participants beat drums and waved pro-peace signs at passing traffic.
At Snowe's office, the protesters effectively shut down operations, sprawling in chairs and on the floor of the small suite. Kelly, who manages the office, refused to open the door to anyone, except journalists, and when any of the protestors left, she would not let them return. She and office staff also blocked the delivery of food to the protesters.
Repeatedly, the protestors asked Kelly to contact Snowe, but Kelly was unable to contact her.
"Our senator would rather have us arrested than talk to us," Saum said.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY GABOR DEGRE
Protesting the U.S. war in Iraq, Jeffrey Black and Kyla Hershey-Wilson sit locked together with bicycle U-shaped locks around their necks on the floor of U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe's Bangor office on Thursday. Snowe's office manager, Gail Kelley, stands in the background. They were listening as a letter sent to the Bangor protesters by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins was read. Snowe, who was in Washington, sent no message to the protesters, six of whom were arrested.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY DENISE HENHOEFFER
Police officers carry a man out of the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building in Bangor during a protest Thursday against the U.S. war in Iraq. Members of several peace coalitions in Maine staged a sit-in at the entrance to the building.