As reported by Antiwar.com’s Debbie Clark:
Saturday morning, after a march around the Capital building, 30-35 people from Camp Democracy – mostly Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War members – went to the Pentagon to see the new 9/11 memorial.
As they were nearing the end of the tour, Geoffrey Millard, a disabled Iraq war veteran, left a stack of pamphlets about the dangers of depleted uranium on a brochure stand as they were entering the chapel. At first, no one noticed and they continued the tour, but as the group was headed out, they say they were surrounded by about 20 or 25 pentagon police.
The cops indicated that someone had left a stack of “literature” inside and announced that this was a violation. They were told that if they didn’t admit who did it, they would all be arrested. The cops apparently then thought a bit better of it, and decided they would arrest the the ones who still had them. That’s funny. Arrest the people who still have them, even though they are the one’s who obviously hadn’t left their’s behind.
Four of them, three IVAW guys, Steve Mortillo, Joe Hatcher, and Toby Hartbarger, and Gregory Watson, a friend, still had the pamphlets and were arrested.
Geoffrey Millard had been doing an interview, and so was held up. When he caught up and saw that his friends were being arrested, he went up to the cops and told them he was the one who had done it.
All five were held in a police station on the Pentagon grounds and were charged with violating a lawful order and illegally posting materials – both federal misdemeanors. All 5 have now been released, but they missed Ray McGovern‘s and Karen Kwiatkowski‘s speeches at Camp Democracy.
For those in DC, the recently released Prisoner of Conscience, Kevin Benderman, will be giving a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus at 7pm Eastern, Saturday night at St. Aloysius Church, 900 N. Capital Street Northwest, near Union Station Metro, redline.
Update: See the video of their press conference here.