ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
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Additional fence and barbed wire fail to stop Latin school protest
COLUMBUS, Ga. – At least 20 demonstrators were arrested Sunday, on charges ranging from trespassing to wearing a mask, as a record 16,000 people protested against a Fort Benning school for Latin soldiers.
Seventeen of the arrests were federal trespassing charges for people who scaled chain-link fences, some topped with coils of barbed wire, to carry the protest into military property, said Bill Quigley, legal adviser for the protest group.
One who attempted to enter illegally was Ed Lewinson, 74, a blind, retired Seton Hall University professor. One protester was charged with the unusual crime of wearing a mask. A law aimed at the Ku Klux Klan makes it illegal to wear masks in Georgia except on “special occasions,” although the rule is seldom invoked.
Organizers of the star-studded protest by School of the Americas Watch said concern about the war in Iraq and President Bush’s re-election boosted attendance to the record 16,000. [MORE]
UPDATE ON THOSE ARRESTED CALLING FOR THE CLOSURE OF THE SOA/ WHINSEC
13 of the 15 demonstrators arrested on Fort Benning yesterday have been arraigned by federal Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth, released from custody and ordered to reappear in court for trial on January 24, 2005. 12 of the 13 were released on $1,000 bond; one, a Georgia resident, was released on $500 bond. One man, Ed Lewinson, was released without charges, and another, Tom MacLean, 79, refused to pay bond and will remain in jail until his court date in January.
Ed Lewinson, 75, was not charged. Ed, blind since birth, was also arrested at last year’s direct action but not charged. “This court treated me differently than other arrestees last year because I am blind,” Lewinson stated, addressing Magistrate Faircloth. “This year you’re discriminating against me again by refusing to charge me — while charging everyone else who participated in nonviolent civil disobedience to close the SOA/WHINSEC.”
Each of the defendants will appear before Magistrate Faircloth during their trial in late January. The SOA Watch Legal Collective and SOA Watch will offer trial preparation and support for these defendants over the next two months and beyond.
Those arrested on the military base are:
Robert “Nash” Chantal, 52, a member of Koinonia Partners in Americus, GA
Elizabeth Deligio, 28, Director of Ministry for Misericordia Home for Disabled Children in Chicago, IL
Brian DeRouen, 26, a graduate student at the University of Dayton, OH
Meagan Doty, 21, a senior at the University of Dayton, OH
Ron Durham, 23, a catholic worker from Chicago, IL
Alice Gerard, 48, a former “prisoner of conscience” from Buffalo, NY
Ed Lewinson, 75, Professor Emeritus of Seton Hall University, New Jersey
Tom MacLean, 79, of Ashfield, MA
Sr. Lil Mattingly, 63, a Maryknoll Sister from Maryknoll, NY
Elizabeth Nadeau, 27, a student and Steelworker from Minneapolis, MN
Mike Ring,65, a retiree and employee of an alternative high school in Wall, NJ
Dan Schwankl, 31, a catholic worker from Silk Hope, NC
Aaron Schumann, 32, an activist with the Prison Activist Resource Center from Oakland, CA
And two minors
Additionally, three were arrested by the Columbus City Police throughout the weekend, two, Patrick O’Neill and John Redman, for issues surrounding the recently erected barricades and one, Kyle Shanahan, for wearing a mask under a seldom-invoked Georgia law aimed at the Ku Klux Klan. These three are awaiting court dates.