Protesters Outnumber Supporters: Army Recruitment on Cambridge Common

[Robbien]

On Tuesday, June 14, 2005, from 10:30 to 11:00 two to three hundred people gathered on the Cambridge Common to protest the army’s celebration of its 230th anniversary there, an event they turned into a blatant recruitment effort. This is part of larger drive by the military to get more people to join, response to the severe drop-offs in new recruits that all branches of the military face as the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan stretch on with no end in sight. Protesters spoke out against the attempts to entice students to join the army, by making it look fun by creating something of a fair on the Common--when those who joined the army would most likely to be sent to kill and possibly be killed in pointless, bloody wars. In contrast to the large number of protesters, there were only about fifty to a hundred civilians there to attend the ceremonies, many of them school children bussed in as a fieldtrip. At times, it appeared that the protesters’ chants could clearly be heard over the official speakers at the ceremony. There were seven arrests, all a result of protesters refusing to remain in the officially designated protest pit.



more about the protest . . .
http://boston.indymedia.org/feature/display/38621/index.php

[deutsey]

1. Anti-war demonstrations in the fall

www.unitedforpeace.org

[unhappycamper]

2. See thead

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3858002&mesg_id=3858002