Hundreds of demonstrators rallied Sunday against the possible war with Iraq and "racist witch hunts" by U.S. authorities following the Sept. 11 attacks. Police swiftly arrested close to a dozen protesters who breached barriers near the White House.
Continuing a weekend of demonstrations after a huge and peaceful rally Saturday, the protesters shouted and waved a U.S. flag with a peace symbol instead of stars in the field of blue.
They then marched toward the White House from their opening rally by the Justice Department, and 10 who climbed over chest-high fencing were pinned to the ground by police and arrested.
Organizers told protesters who wanted to get arrested to mass at the front, setting a more confrontational tone than was seen at the Saturday demonstration, when tens of thousands rallied and only a few people were taken into custody.
When the marchers met another group of demonstrators waiting at Lafayette Park across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, there was a surge of enthusiasm and some began running toward, and over, the barricades blocking that section of the street.
Police forced them face down on snowy grass and bound their wrists with plastic handcuffs. A dozen police were on horseback and many more were on the scene, warning people that anyone going over the barricades would be taken into custody.
Police had cleared the way for the march, with several vehicles at the front of the procession.
President Bush was at Camp David, Md., for the weekend. Protesters wanted to get as close as possible to the White House to protest his Iraq policy.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20030119_917.html
Looks like our DC chapter came under assault from the loonies.
Also from that ABC story:
"This is the center of all the racist attacks on people of color that have been happening for so long," said Peta Lindsay, an 18-year-old freshman at Howard University. Shouting from a megaphone, Lindsay told the crowd that the FBI and Immigration and Naturalization Service are going to universities and demanding files on certain students. "We will defend ourselves and our brothers from these racist witch hunts," Lindsay said.
Of course, the fact that they are only checking people that come form countries that have historically supported terrorism, either directly or indirectly, is beside the point. Idiots.