Sheehan: Trial Centers on Dispute Over War Protesters’ Arrests

[babylonsister]

Apologies if this has already been posted.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/nyregion/08sheehan.html

It started as a tiny act of protest. Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who had held a vigil near President Bush’s ranch, and a group of women wanted to submit a petition to the United States Mission to the United Nations in Manhattan, demanding an end to the war.

But Ms. Sheehan and three other women were handcuffed, arrested and jailed overnight. Now their misdemeanor trial in Manhattan Criminal Court has turned into a look at the use — and they say abuse — of police power, in the face of an antiwar protest.

At the trial, the police and security officers told the jury that the four women had sat down and blocked the entrance to the building, and had resisted arrest by refusing to follow the instructions of arresting officers.

And yesterday, Peggy Kerry, the sister of Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and a liaison at the mission, testified that she was planning to meet with the protesters, but told one of them that she would not meet with the press because that was not her job. After learning that they had a celebrity, Ms. Sheehan, with them, Ms. Kerry turned off her phone and had no further contact with them.

“I was angry that they had not told me Cindy Sheehan would be there,” Ms. Kerry, a prosecution witness, said, under questioning by Ms. Sheehan’s lawyer, Robert Gottlieb.

more...

[NMDemDist2]

1. i read the whole article and it still doesn't make sense

were they or weren't they in a "public plaza" ??

and i'll bet JFKerry won't be happy to see his sister's name in that article

[babylonsister]

2. I can't imagine the entrance to the

United States Mission to the United Nations in Manhattan isn't public. As for Kerry, was she peeved that this might get some press? Seems like that would go with the territory.

Hi, NMDD6!

[EFerrari]

4. It sounds like a miscommunication between the CP women

and Kerry more than anything. And her office handled it poorly instead of just acting like grown ups and saying, gee, this isn't what we understood.

[EFerrari]

3. It seems to say they were in a public area but not THE public

area where the police wanted to herd them.

The police should lose this case. Dangerous pink women? What are they going to do if actual terrorists show up, wet their pants?

It makes the police look ridiculous, imho.