Protesters Rally Against War
Police Reportedly Arrest Protesters

UPDATED: 11:48 a.m. PST January 16, 2003

LOS ANGELES -- People are protesting Thursday morning by staging a funeral for would-be casualties if the United States went to war with Iraq, according to NBC4.

Members of the American Friends Service Committee protested at the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and the mark the anniversary of the Gulf War, according to NBC4.


Protesters do not want a second Gulf War with Iraq. They staged funeral services for would-be casualties.

Los Angeles police are at the scene and are reportedly arresting people and loading them onto buses.

Come on out and show solidarity!!!

This is the New Anti-War Movement's first Civil Disobedience action in Southern California!!!


WHERE:  Downtown Los Angeles Federal, Building,
300 North Los Angeles St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

WHEN:   The "funeral ceremony" will take place at 10:30AM Thursday, January 16, 2003, with a supporting rally gathering at 9:00 AM.


American Friends Service Committee
Pacific Southwest Region
Middle East Peace Education Program
980 North Fair Oaks Avenue • Pasadena, California 91103

Phone: (626) 791-1978 x131 • Fax: (626) 791-2205 • Email: shakim@afsc.org

PRESS ADVISORY

January 15, 2003
ATTN: Assignment Editor Contact:        Shady Hakim
               Work:   (626) 791-1978 x131
               Cell:   (626) 222-0745
               Karen Pomer: (310) 463-7025


Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday & Anniversary of Gulf War
Inspires Local Residents to Join Thursday's Non-Violent Action at
Downtown LA Federal Building

Photo Opportunity,  Street Theater, Great Visuals, Photo Opportunity, Street Theater


WHO:    A former U.S. naval submarine officer who served during the Gulf War; a 26 year old Filipino-American Rock musician; a grandfather of five; a union representative, who traveled to Iraq to  deliver medicine and a teacher, whose students are reading on birthday of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Thoreau's essay on Civil Disobedience, will be among a diverse group Southern California residents participating in a non-violent action to dramatize their opposition to a new invasion of Iraq and express their hope for a peaceful US foreign policy.

WHAT:   Participants perform street theater, holding a mock "funeral ceremony" for the casualties of war and call on the Bush Administration to reconsider its drive for another Gulf War. During the dramatic ceremony, a grim "War" figure looms as members of the group lay out flowers and coffins as a reminder of the victims of the last Gulf War and a decade of crippling UN sanctions on Iraq. The local group is part of the Iraq Pledge of Resistance, a nationally coordinated civil disobedience campaign against a war or on Iraq. Several members of the group will consider risking arrest as an act of resistance to the war.

Falling on the anniversary of the first Gulf War on January 16, 1991, the organizers also hope to emphasize that the war on the Iraqi people has not ceased, with regular aerial assaults by US and British fighter jets and over a decade of crippling sanctions on the people of Iraq. Coming on the heels of a mass rally in Los Angeles on Saturday, the funeral is a part of a national week of action called by the Iraq Pledge of Resistance and major peace groups all over the country to resist the Bush Administration's drive for another Gulf War.

WHERE:  Downtown Los Angeles Federal, Building,
300 North Los Angeles St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
WHEN:   The "funeral ceremony" will take place at 10:30AM Thursday, January 16, 2003, with a supporting rally gathering at 9:00 AM.

For more information on the national Iraq Pledge of Resistance, please go to: http://www.peacepledge.org/resist/default.htm or call (626) 791-1978 x131

Pray all you want. The US government not only attacks those abroad, but those within the US.

PUT OUT A CALL ON THE WEB FOR FREEDOM FIGHTERS TO ASSEMBLE IN THE USA.

IT LOOKS LIKE ANOTHER VEGAN SUMMER, OR MAYBE NUKE THE NUKES DAY.

WE MUS T ORGRANIZE AND STRIKE AT ONCE AND REPITITIVELY. POOR OF THE WORLD, INCLUDING THE US ARE GOING TO PAY THE PRICE Of Human Extinction, IF SOMETHING IS NOT DONE.

NUCLEAR BOMBS ABUNDANT IN USA. When they are set off prematurely, the death-laden asset, the nuke missile, becomes a death-laden liability, USA.

Assemble in Mobile, Alabama at Noon on Tuesdays at the City Council Meeting and be heard, or seen, or simply act. We are being led by the pigs of humanity, the wealthiest 1 out of 100, and you can rest assured they do not live in our poor neighborhoods, and vacation in their hidden paradises, far from their industrialized and neglected hell.

LA burned in 1992. USA has been burning the poor at least since 1980. When does it ignite? The time is now for protest. The heart is in the South East, land of Slavery and un-counted votes. Read the link and act.

The link is to the site mentioned below. The link was omitted by accident but is here