Activist Cindy
Sheehan Arrested at Capitol
By LAURIE KELLMAN, AP
from washingtonpost.com, February 1, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Cindy Sheehan,
the mother of a fallen soldier in Iraq who reinvigorated the anti-war movement,
was arrested and removed from the House gallery Tuesday night just before
President Bush's State of the Union address, a police spokeswoman said.
Sheehan, who was invited to attend the speech by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif.,
was charged with demonstrating in the Capitol building, said Capitol Police Sgt.
Kimberly Schneider. The charge was later changed to unlawful conduct,
Schneider said. Both charges are misdemeanors.
Sheehan was taken in handcuffs from the Capitol to police headquarters a few
blocks away. Her case was processed as Bush spoke.
Schneider said Sheehan had worn a T-shirt with an anti-war slogan to the speech
and covered it up until she took her seat. Police warned her that such displays
were not allowed, but she did not respond, the spokeswoman said.
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Activist
Cindy Sheehan of the Gold Star Families for Peace participates on a
panel calling for the impeachment of President. Bush on
Monday, Jan. 30, 2006 in Washington. Sheehan joined a coalition of
groups at the forum on the impeachment of President Bush and Vice
President Cheney. (AP
Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke) |
Police handcuffed Sheehan and removed
her from the gallery before Bush arrived. Sheehan was to be released on
her own recognizance, Schneider said.
"I'm proud that Cindy's my guest tonight," Woolsey said in an interview before
the speech. "She has made a difference in the debate to bring our troops
home from Iraq."
Woolsey offered Sheehan a ticket to the speech -- Gallery 5, seat 7, row A --
earlier Tuesday while Sheehan was attending an "alternative state of the union"
press conference by CODEPINK, a group pushing for an end to the Iraq war.
Sheehan, wrapped in a bright pink scarf against the cold, protested outside the
White House with a handful of others before heading to the Capitol Tuesday
evening. There were no cameras around, but the small band faced the
executive mansion and repeatedly shouted, "You're evicted! Get out of our
house!"
Sheehan was arrested in September with about 300 other anti-war activists in
front of the White House after a weekend of protests against the war in Iraq.
In August, she spent 26 days camped near Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, where
he was spending a working vacation.
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