Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Free Speech at the UN

About a dozen anti-war protesters were arrested during a peaceful demonstration of President Bush's speech before the U.N. General Assembly. They were among about 400 people opposing the Bush Administration's war in Iraq, and its incarceration in Guantanamo Bay of more than 300 men on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaida or the Taliban. Many in the crowd wore orange jumpsuit in solidarity with the Guantanamo detainees.

The arrested demonstrators were taken into custody by police after kneeling on the sidewalk in an act of civil disobedience near the United Nations. One of them, 58-year-old Bill Ofenloch of Manhattan, said they were trying to serve an "arrest warrant" on Bush for "high crimes against humanity."

  AP

I would like to tell you what is illegal about kneeling on a sidewalk as a protest, but I don't know any more details. Perhaps it's the proximity to the UN?

Nope, that couldn't be it.

Thousands of protesters jammed into Dag Hammarskjold Plaza near the United Nations [...] to speak out against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was in New York to attend a meeting of the General Assembly.

Carrying signs that read “Stop Iran Now” and “Israel Is On The Map To Stay,” the older demonstrators set up on the benches that flank the long narrow plaza while the younger set roved about the park with groups of friends.

  Columbia Journalist

Members of the anti-war group Code Pink performed a bit of street theater where a person wearing a Bush mask was arrested.

"What do we say?" shouted Code Pink's Medea Benjamin. "Arrest the criminal!"

The crowd picked up the chant. Once the arrests were made, the rest of the group began marching downtown. The demonstrators, in orderly fashion, walked along the sidewalks since they lacked a permit for a street march.

  AP

I would also like to tell you what's illegal about wearing a Bush mask. I'm just not very helpful today.

Cuba‘s foreign minister walked out of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday in protest of President Bush‘s speech in which he said the "long rule of a cruel dictator is nearing its end" on the communist island.

  News One


Luckily, he's a foreign diplomat, or he might have been arrested, too.


....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.


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