Police Arrest Anti-War Protester, 80, At Mall

[Joanne98]

An 80-year-old church deacon was removed from the Smith Haven Mall yesterday in a wheelchair and arrested by police for refusing to remove a T-shirt protesting the Iraq War.

Police said that Don Zirkel, of Bethpage, was disturbing shoppers at the Lake Grove mall with his T-shirt, which had what they described as “graphic anti-war images.” Zirkel, a deacon at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Wyandanch, said his shirt had the death tolls of American military personnel and Iraqis - 4,000 and 1 million - and the words “Dead” and “Enough.” The shirt also has three blotches resembling blood splatters.

Police said in a release last night that Zirkel was handing out anti-war pamphlets to mallgoers and that mall security told him to stop and turn his shirt inside out. Zirkel refused to turn his shirt inside out and wouldn’t leave, police said. Security placed him on “civilian arrest” and called police. When police arrived, Zirkel passively resisted attempts to bring him to a police car, the release said.

But Zirkel said he was sitting in the food court drinking coffee with his wife Marie, 77, and several others when police and mall security officers approached and demanded they remove their anti-war T-shirts.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/30/7974/

[Ishoutandscream2]

1. How about some graphic pro war tee shirts?

My God, what's wrong with this country?

[patrice]

6. Pay no attention to this. Move along.

Go home and turn your tv on to, say, the SciFi channel and watch movies with multiple dis-embowellings, in slow motion, or people biting big holes into other peoples' skulls and eating their brains.

In fact, I'd bet, if you had to go shopping with someone and had some time to kill, you could take your portable DVD player to the food court and sit right there and watch SciFi Shit or whatever and the merchants would bring you coupons and such, to encourage others to do the same.

[Metta]

2. Fascism in action.

These people deserve a swift kick in the ass.

[montanacowboy]

3. Don't disturb the shopper with the truth

they must keep shopping at all costs;

what the fuck has happened to the people in this country? what a disgrace we have become

[BlueJazz]

4. "The shirt also has three blotches resembling blood splatters".

Oh..my Dear God,,..Think of the children....Blood Splatters,,,I'm going to be sick..Sob..Sob...

[sandyd921]

5. We wouldn't want to interrupt rampant consumerism

with a little reality now would we?

[angrycarpenter]

7. lovely

At least they didn't tase him. I would bet that the only complaint came from the guards themselves. Amazing how saying how many have died in this war is an attack on America.

If you want to see a violent T-shirt look at some of the pro-wrestling shirts or Pro-gun shirts or shirts for heavy metal bands.

It was not the shirt, it was the message that it presented. I guess the first amendment does not exist anywhere someone might hear what you are saying.

[patrice]

8. Props to some Catholics who seem to be waking up to what the churches did.

Sold their birthright in order to try to change Roe v. Wade and this war is what we got for it.

Thank goodness some of them are taking responsibility for their church.

:applause:

[zonkers]

9. Wow, I never imagined L.I. would be so backward. Good for Deacon

Zirkel. Getting arrested brought more attention to his cause than he ever could have imagined. Wish there were pictures.

[Voice for Peace]

10. That would have been funny if his 77 year old wife had removed her tshirt.