WASHINGTON - Police arrested two Nobel Peace prize winners along with more than 60 other people protesting on Wednesday near the White House against the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Police handcuffed Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who won the prize in 1976 for peace activism in the Northern Ireland conflict, and Jody Williams, a 1997 winner for her work to ban land mines, after they refused to leave Lafayette Park opposite the home of the U.S. president.
The Nobel laureates were detained along with religious leaders and Vietnam-era protester Daniel Ellsberg as they sat in a circle in the park and chanted...
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A spokesman for the U.S. Parks Police said nine people had been arrested for crossing a police line opposite the White House and that the rest were held for protesting without a permit.
We don't need to abolish the 1st Admendment, ya'll, the government will just refuse to issue you a permit.
Since a 24-hour anti-nuke vigil has been held there continuously since 1981, plus of course the vigil by the Pink Ladies that's been going on for a few months now, why weren't *those* protestors arrested today? Easy, as long as less than 23 people show up (and I'm not making that figure up, that's the exact requirement), you don't need a permit.
However, according to the Washington Times Dec 9, 2002, the park service is refusing to issue any permits. What might be even scarier, is that the park service is allowing some protestors to break the rules, but not others. If there's only free speech for some (and who decides?), then speech can't possibly be free.