Soul Rebel
24th March 2003, 22:55
Protesters Arrested After Blocking Entrances To Federal Building
11:21 AM EST,March 24, 2003
By TINA A. BROWN and MATT BURGARD, The Hartford Courant
HARTFORD, Conn. -- More than 100 anti-war demonstrators blocked the doors of the William R. Cotter Federal building Monday morning, shutting out workers and income tax filers for more than four hours.
About half of the protesters at the federal building were arrested by an army of Hartford police, state Department of Correction officers and federal agents. Another group of protesters demonstrated outside of the United Technologies Corp. building, and about 14 people there were arrested.
Though peaceful, some of the demonstrators outside the federal building locked their arms together, lay on the ground and had to be carried into police custody. Others walked away holding up peace signs. At the UTC building on Main Street, protesters charged into the lobby of the building and staged a mass "die-in" in which they slumped to the floor, some pouring buckets of red dye on themselves to simulate blood.
All protesters found blocking the doors and the parking garage were charged with trespassing, obstructing passage and interfering with police. They were placed in two 30-passenger correction department buses, said Capt. Michael Fallon, commander of special operations for the Hartford Police Department.
"The demonstrations seem to be escalating in terms of how vocal and resistant the protesters are," Fallon said. "We were not informed ahead of time about these protests, but they weren't anything we weren't trained to handle."
While the protest at the federal building was aimed primarily at the war in Iraq, demonstrators at the UTC building focused largely on the corporation's sales of attack helicopters in South America. In all, police arrested almost 65 people in both demonstrations, Fallon said.
Throughout the protest at the federal building, the Rev. Catherine Alder led the group in songs about achieving peace. And, other chanted for the sake of "Iraq children."
The protesters gathered at 7 a.m. at the Francsian Center for Urban Ministry building. Once they walked up the sidewalk, the groups split. One group took their views to the United Technologies office building and the larger group walked to the Cotter building. There were no organized speeches and protesters during the unrest and demonstrators yelled out sporadically from the crowd.
Of all the chanters, Chris-Allen Doucet yelled the loudest. He sat at the front entrance of the building, just as would-be income tax filers were standing in line to enter the building. "The government offices have been closed by agents of peace,'' Doucet said. "Fifty people can't shut down the federal government. But we can shut down the federal government in Hartford,'' he said later.
The Cotter building was targeted because the Internal Revenue Services has offices there, said Doucet.
While he was the loudest voice but Allen Jackson, 82, of Bloomfield had the tallest sign denouncing police brutality and the war in Iraq.
A World War II veteran, Jackson said his son died in Vietnam. He said, he did not support a "war for oil,'' and he thought the war was a ploy to steal Iraq's oil. "They want to help the big man. They don't care about us,'' Jackson said.
Those waiting to get inside the building grew angry. But the protesters had completely blocked the ground entrance. When they went around the back, demonstrators blocked the garage and two side entrances.
"Excuse me,'' yelled one woman were a red trench coat as she tried to climb over a group sitting on the sidewalk. "I work here and you are preventing me from working."
Others carrying brief cases, hopped a metal railing. But they still couldn't get through. The newspaper deliveryman, who tried more than once to push through the demonstrators, dropped out his papers on the stairwell and left.
Jackson and Theresa Morgan, of East Hartford, had taken the morning off to do their income taxes. The demonstrations and the fact that they couldn't get in the door upset them. "There is a time and place for everything. But this isn't the time or the place,'' Theresa Morgan said.
Her husband said that once the war started Americans were supposed to line up in support of the troops. "We should be more united now, since we're in there."
At the UTC building, demonstrators from a national protest organization called Witnesses For Peace shouted against American corporate activity in support of military operations in Colombia, Iraq and other Third World countries.
"What's happening in Iraq and Colombia is all about greed," said Martin Lepkowski, an activist from Rhode Island.
When the demonstration began about 8 a.m., protesters stormed the lobby of the building and fell in a heap of bodies, remaining there until officers dressed in riot gear lifted each of them out. Police from throughout the city were called in to take the protesters into custody and process their arrests.
"It's been a long day," Fallon said. "Events like these are very resource-intensive. Instead of being able to assign officers to patrol our neighborhoods or conduct traffic enforcement, they were forced to handle these protests. And unfortunately, it's at the expense of Hartford taxpayers."
11:21 AM EST,March 24, 2003
By TINA A. BROWN and MATT BURGARD, The Hartford Courant
HARTFORD, Conn. -- More than 100 anti-war demonstrators blocked the doors of the William R. Cotter Federal building Monday morning, shutting out workers and income tax filers for more than four hours.
About half of the protesters at the federal building were arrested by an army of Hartford police, state Department of Correction officers and federal agents. Another group of protesters demonstrated outside of the United Technologies Corp. building, and about 14 people there were arrested.
Though peaceful, some of the demonstrators outside the federal building locked their arms together, lay on the ground and had to be carried into police custody. Others walked away holding up peace signs. At the UTC building on Main Street, protesters charged into the lobby of the building and staged a mass "die-in" in which they slumped to the floor, some pouring buckets of red dye on themselves to simulate blood.
All protesters found blocking the doors and the parking garage were charged with trespassing, obstructing passage and interfering with police. They were placed in two 30-passenger correction department buses, said Capt. Michael Fallon, commander of special operations for the Hartford Police Department.
"The demonstrations seem to be escalating in terms of how vocal and resistant the protesters are," Fallon said. "We were not informed ahead of time about these protests, but they weren't anything we weren't trained to handle."
While the protest at the federal building was aimed primarily at the war in Iraq, demonstrators at the UTC building focused largely on the corporation's sales of attack helicopters in South America. In all, police arrested almost 65 people in both demonstrations, Fallon said.
Throughout the protest at the federal building, the Rev. Catherine Alder led the group in songs about achieving peace. And, other chanted for the sake of "Iraq children."
The protesters gathered at 7 a.m. at the Francsian Center for Urban Ministry building. Once they walked up the sidewalk, the groups split. One group took their views to the United Technologies office building and the larger group walked to the Cotter building. There were no organized speeches and protesters during the unrest and demonstrators yelled out sporadically from the crowd.
Of all the chanters, Chris-Allen Doucet yelled the loudest. He sat at the front entrance of the building, just as would-be income tax filers were standing in line to enter the building. "The government offices have been closed by agents of peace,'' Doucet said. "Fifty people can't shut down the federal government. But we can shut down the federal government in Hartford,'' he said later.
The Cotter building was targeted because the Internal Revenue Services has offices there, said Doucet.
While he was the loudest voice but Allen Jackson, 82, of Bloomfield had the tallest sign denouncing police brutality and the war in Iraq.
A World War II veteran, Jackson said his son died in Vietnam. He said, he did not support a "war for oil,'' and he thought the war was a ploy to steal Iraq's oil. "They want to help the big man. They don't care about us,'' Jackson said.
Those waiting to get inside the building grew angry. But the protesters had completely blocked the ground entrance. When they went around the back, demonstrators blocked the garage and two side entrances.
"Excuse me,'' yelled one woman were a red trench coat as she tried to climb over a group sitting on the sidewalk. "I work here and you are preventing me from working."
Others carrying brief cases, hopped a metal railing. But they still couldn't get through. The newspaper deliveryman, who tried more than once to push through the demonstrators, dropped out his papers on the stairwell and left.
Jackson and Theresa Morgan, of East Hartford, had taken the morning off to do their income taxes. The demonstrations and the fact that they couldn't get in the door upset them. "There is a time and place for everything. But this isn't the time or the place,'' Theresa Morgan said.
Her husband said that once the war started Americans were supposed to line up in support of the troops. "We should be more united now, since we're in there."
At the UTC building, demonstrators from a national protest organization called Witnesses For Peace shouted against American corporate activity in support of military operations in Colombia, Iraq and other Third World countries.
"What's happening in Iraq and Colombia is all about greed," said Martin Lepkowski, an activist from Rhode Island.
When the demonstration began about 8 a.m., protesters stormed the lobby of the building and fell in a heap of bodies, remaining there until officers dressed in riot gear lifted each of them out. Police from throughout the city were called in to take the protesters into custody and process their arrests.
"It's been a long day," Fallon said. "Events like these are very resource-intensive. Instead of being able to assign officers to patrol our neighborhoods or conduct traffic enforcement, they were forced to handle these protests. And unfortunately, it's at the expense of Hartford taxpayers."