War in Iraq Coverage from National Public Radio Discuss the conflict Audio War opponents step up civil disobedience (story audio) Photos A protester is arrested Blocking an entrance Anti-war sentiment Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

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War opponents step up civil disobedience
by Art Hughes, Minnesota Public Radio
March 25, 2003

An anti-war protester is arrested in downtown Minneapolis Tuesday morning. (MPR Photo/Art Hughes)

Police arrested 67 anti-war protestors Tuesday during a protest at the federal building in downtown Minneapolis. Those arrested briefly blocked the entrances to the building while others cheered them on and chanted slogans nearby. This is the second civil disobedience demonstration in the Twin Cities in as many days. Arrests now total almost 100.

Minneapolis, Minn. — Protesters blazed a meandering trail through morning commuter traffic. If police tried to predict the path of the march and redirect oncoming cars, the demonstration would take a different route.

When they got to the federal building in the heart of downtown, groups of protesters split off and linked arms in front of all the entrances. By that time some 20 protesters reportedly had chained themselves to metal detectors inside the building.

	Blocking an entrance

Protest organizer Meredith Aby told the crowd the action represents the frustration war opponents feel as U.S. soldiers advance toward Bagdad.

"Business as usual is not happening today at the federal building. We're not going to let the symbol of the federal government go about its usual business of killing people around the globe. We're saying no," Aby said.

Protester Niki Barker of Minneapolis said she called in sick to work so she could be among those arrested.

"I'm just really excited to be here today, representing a lot of people who don't have the balls to be out here today. That's it. The long and short of it. And I've never felt so passionate about anything in my life," Barker said.

When asked what gave her the courage to come to the protest, Barker said, "I'm young and I have nothing to lose. Good enough?"

	Anti-war sentiment

Protest signs read, "Wage Peace" and "Who will liberate Iraq from the U.S.?" Just moments before she was arrested, Laura Cini of Minneapolis said getting arrested is worth raising awareness.

"Going to jail is nothing compared to what these people are going through over there. If we wanted to invest $90 billion to liberate a country, there's plenty of countries that need schools, hospitals, medicine, food," Cini said. "We could adopt a country if that's what they really mean to do. But that's not what they really mean to do."

The demonstration only briefly disrupted access to the federal building. Police shut down two blocks of Third Street behind the building for about two hours, to use as a staging area to process those arrested. Organizers publicized the event only minutes before it started to try and throw off any effort by police to stop it. Still, police spokesman Ron Reier said police knew it was coming.

"We knew there was going to be a protest this morning. And as part of our preparation for most anything, we have several different contingency plans," Reier said. "If we know of a protest we're going to have officers on hand. This one we suspected would be a little larger in numbers, so we have more officers so we have more officers to show their presence, and we have more officers should it become necessary."

Some two dozen protesters were arrested at a "die-in" protest at U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman's office on Monday. The apparent stepping up of anti-war actions prompted Gov. Tim Pawlenty to consider making protesters pay for the added expense for law enforcement. "I'm just asking the protesters respectfully, I'm asking them to please pull short of having to engage law enforcement in acts of arrest. ... It's largely symbolic, it doesn't advance the cause and it just drains resources away from our ... limited and stretched public safety resources that we currently have," Pawlenty said.

"And if it gets to be too much of a concern, we may have to start thinking about restitution. We may have to start asking -- considering the people who are goiong to engage in purposefully tying up and causing our system to have expense -- to pay restitution," Pawlenty said.

Those arrested at the protest were cited for trespassing and ordered to stay away from the federal building until April 3. Protest organizers don't say whether there are similar protests planned for the future, but they estimate some 500 people have gone through civil disobedience training since the start of the war.

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