Posted on 07/30/2003 3:55:24 PM PDT by Binyamin
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - Page updated at 02:10 P.M.
Evergreen student wounded in West Bank protest
By The Associated Press
OLYMPIA — A student from The Evergreen State College was wounded in the West Bank during a protest against Israel's construction of a security fence there. Sam Tsohonis, 26, an art major at the Olympia college, was hit in the leg by a rubber-coated bullet near the village of Anin on Monday. Israeli soldiers wounded five people when they fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse protesters trying to cut or push through the fence.
Israelis say the barrier is needed to stop militants from entering Israel to carry out attacks. But Palestinians say the project amounts to a land-grab that cuts them off from agricultural fields, towns and jobs.
Tsohonis has spent about two weeks in the West Bank as part of a two-month volunteer stint for the Palestinian-backed International Solidarity Movement.
Rachel Corrie, 23, also an Evergreen student and an International Solidarity Movement volunteer, was crushed to death in March by an Israeli bulldozer while she tried to block it from advancing on a Palestinian home.
Marci Tsohonis of Wenatchee, Sam's mother, said her son was a friend of Corrie. She said she spoke to her son by cell phone and he told her that the rubber bullet grazed his leg and tore off some flesh. He expects to be off his feet for a few days, she said.
She said Tsohonis remains committed to staying in the West Bank. He hopes to paint a mural in a Palestinian hospital nursery that was named for Corrie.
"He wanted to do it to promote peace," Marci Tsohonis said
Now that scares the h*ll out of me.
And that's a GOOD thing.
Rubber bullet, my aunt fanny. He just doesn't know how to use the Lady Shick Shaver!
The Olympian
Tuesday, March 4, 2003
News
Front Page
Four Arrested in War Protest
OLYMPIAN STAFF
OLYMPIA -- Four people were arrested Monday morning, after stopping their cars on the Fourth Avenue bridge and smashing their vehicles with hammers to protest a possible war with Iraq.
The incident occurred about 8:15 a.m. Monday and lasted about 13 minutes, said Sgt. Tor Bjornstad of the Olympia Police Department.
Those arrested for pedestrian interference were William Tubman, 24, of Olympia; Sam Tsohonis, 25, of Olympia; Michael Dyen, 20, of Olympia; Jess Sanders, 23, who gave a Seattle address.
"These were their cars," Bjornstad said. "A person certainly has a right to do this to their car."
Sanders, in a statement, said the incident was a protest of a possible war with Iraq.
"By destroying my car, I disarm myself," he said. "All of us drivers are not so secret supporters of oil executives deciding the fate of millions of innocents in countries they have never visited, taking the lives of people they have never met."
Yup...that's one of our local cops all right. Protect the Greeners at all costs. You get a $101 ticket for driving without a seatbelt, but you can block the main arterial from the westside to downtown by smashing up your own car on purpose on the bridge -- and that is within your rights.
Yup, sure we're sane here. Vey sane.
The second hand smoke from that location must give you a real buzz...
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