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More than 100 people were arrested nationwide in connection with the
peace demonstrations.
12/11/2002
By Michael McAuliffe
Staff writer
Up and down the Pioneer Valley, as around America, citizens gathered
on International Human Rights Day yesterday to protest a possible war
with Iraq.
About two dozen people staged a sit-in in the office of Springfield Mayor
Michael J. Albano. The sit-in was sandwiched around a noontime rally in
Court Square and a late afternoon-early evening candlelight vigil, which
began in the square and ended 2« blocks away in front of the federal
building on Main Street.
"We know this war will come when nonviolent alternatives are being
ignored," said Joanne Comerford, coordinator of the Western
Massachusetts office of the American Friends Service Committee.
The protest in Albano's office was peaceful, but at other spots around
the country more than 100 people were arrested.
About half of the 200 protesters demonstrating outside the U.S. mission
to the United Nations in New York City were arrested for disorderly
conduct, including clergy members.
Across the country in Sacramento, Calif., nine were taken into custody
for blocking the entrance to a federal courthouse.
The group United for Peace counted more than 120 planned vigils, acts
of civil disobedience and marches in 37 states from Alaska to Florida.
Protests were being organized by fax and over the Internet by anarchists
and Communists, evangelicals and Quakers.
Comerford said about 200 people gathered for the noontime rally at
Court Square. About 65 people then braved chilly conditions to be part of
the late afternoon-early evening vigil and march to the federal building.
In the afternoon, a number of protesters held signs, such as those that
read "No Blood For Oil," "Peace On Earth," "Say No To War," and one
that featured a photograph of Vice President Dick Cheney with the words
"Got Oil?" written across his forehead.
The Springfield gatherings were also aimed at bringing attention to the
plight of the poor. The sit-in in the mayor's office was led by
Michaelann C. Bewsee, a member of the board of directors of Arise for Social
Justice.
Albano was not in at the time, but Bewsee said that via telephone he
agreed to meet with protesters tomorrow at 1 p.m.
Bewsee said that the city needs additional shelter space for homeless
families.
In Hadley, N. Kai Newkirk, a senior at Hampshire College, was one of 10
students who held signs at the corner of Routes 9 and 47 yesterday
afternoon.
"We wanted to do something up here for people who couldn't make it
down to Springfield," he said. "It's a good place. We've reached a lot of
people. There have been hundreds of cars."
Activists from the Traprock Peace Center in Deerfield enlisted children
at the Greenfield Public Library to make greeting cards for children at the
Al Monsour Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq. The cards and health supplies were
included in a care package that the group unsuccessfully attempted to
ship to Iraq from the Greenfield Post Office.
"They don't know a lot about war, but they have a natural sense of
empathy," said Daphne Bye of Deerfield, whose children Mary, 9, and
Sullivan, 6, made cards for the Iraqi children.
Material from Staff writers Angela Carbone and William Sweet and The
Associated Press were used in this report. Michael McAuliffe can be
reached at mmcauliffe@union-news.comCopyright 2002 MassLive.com. All Rights Reserved.
Page created November 25, 2002 by Charlie Jenks.
