Twenty-Seven People from Across LA Arrested in Nonviolent Civil

Disobedience for Peace

Interfaith Service and Antiwar Action at Downtown Federal Building

Los Angeles (March 21) Twenty seven Los Angeles County residents were arrested at 10:00 this morning following an interfaith service when

they blocked the street in front of the downtown Federal Building at

300 N. Los Angeles St. A diverse group, including members of the faith

community as well as other people of conscience opposed to the war,

participated in the service and civil disobedience action. About 400 people

were in attendance.

People have been able to bring about justice when they come together

and confront illegitimate acts by government” said Dianne Flowers, a

56 year-old teacher from Long Beach who was arrested for the first time

today. Colin Walsh, 32, who witnessed the events of September 11 in New

York first-hand, said am compelled to do everything in my power to

prevent my government from perpetrating the same destruction 1,000-fold

on the people of Iraq. Those arrested included Father John Coleman,

a priest and professor at Loyola Marymount University, Sister Judy

Vaughan, a Catholic sister, and Shan Cretin, the regional director of the

American Friends Service Committee.

Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (ICUJP) sponsored

the interfaith service at the downtown Los Angeles Federal Building to

express its grief over the consequences of war on Iraq. Participants

marched solemnly around the building to its front on Los Angeles St.,

where they were joined by speakers from diverse religious perspectives

united in their opposition to the war on Iraq. Speakers represented the

diversity of the interfaith movement against the war, including

representatives from the Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, and

religiously uncommitted communities. Reverend Dr. David Wheeler began the

interfaith service, Wherever bombs are dropped, and human life is lost,

we weep with one heart, the heart of humanity. As the service

continued, Muslim activist Kamal Abu-Shamsieh acknowledged the long line of

immigrants waiting nearby to register for the INS special registration

deadline. He reminded the crowd that this is a critical time for those

who can speak to do so boldly and on behalf of those who, because of

their status as immigrants, cannot always speak out on issues of peace and

justice. Following a blessing, those risking arrest moved into the

crosswalk and knelt in the street until they were arrested by the Los

Angeles Police Department.

Almost all of those arrested today are doing this for the first

time, said Shady Hakim, an organizer with the American Friends Service

Committee, who helped coordinate the action locally. These are

ordinary people who are willing to face personal risk and inconvenience to

express their opposition to a war on Iraq.

The action is part of a broader effort called the Iraq Pledge of

Resistance, a nationally coordinated civil disobedience campaign against a

war on Iraq (www.peacepledge.org/resist).