Anti-Bush Protesters Arrested Near UN

AP
Tuesday September 25, 2007

NEW YORK - About a dozen anti-war protesters were arrested Tuesday morning during a peaceful demonstration of President Bush's speech before the U.N. General Assembly.

The arrestees were among about 400 protesters 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 jumpsuits 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 at the rally near the United Nations. One of them, 58-year-old Bill Ofenloch said they were trying to serve an "arrest warrant" on Bush for "high crimes against humanity."

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.