Peace Action Grannies Found Innocent of Trying to Enlist [View All]

[Robbien]

NEW YORK, April 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Eighteen grannies who were arrested in front of a military recruitment station in Times Square, New York on October 17, 2005 were found innocent today. The grannies, who call themselves the "Granny Peace Brigade," were trying to enlist in the military in order to prevent younger men and women from dying in the Iraq war. They were arrested for blocking the entrance to the recruiting station, handcuffed and jailed for over four hours. If found guilty, the grannies would have faced 15 days behind bars.

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Neal Ross found that the grannies in fact did not block the entrance and that they were wrongly arrested.

Five of these grannies, aged 59 to 91 are active members of Peace Action, the largest peace group in the U.S with nearly 100,000 members. These brave grannies' names are Carol Husten, Lillian Rydel, Barabra Walker, Susan Nickerson of New York and Dr. Patricia Salomon of Maryland.

Said former chair of Peace Action New York State, Carol Husten, "we are not guilty, our government is guilty of getting us into an illegal, immoral Iraq war."

The grannies plan to march together this Saturday, April 29, in the march for peace justice and democracy in New York City. Those who can walk will; the others will march in wheelchairs.

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=64752