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Freedom of Assembly on Trial in NYC: Veterans Who Fought for Liberty Are Forced to Fight Again
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| Contributor | kal |
| Last Edited | kal Jul 10, 2013 12:34pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Website - Daily Kos |
| News Date | Wednesday, July 10, 2013 06:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Trial began this week in Manhattan for 14 U.S. military veterans and their supporters arrested last fall at New York City’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Charges include trespassing, failure to comply with a park sign and remaining at the memorial past closing time. The group had stayed beyond a 10:00 p.m. park curfew to continue the reading of the names of American soldiers killed in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
By all accounts the 6:00 p.m. gathering on October 7, 2012, at Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza on Water Street was orderly and peaceful. Combat veterans like Rev. George Packard, retired Bishop for the Armed Forces of the Episcopal Church, and Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Chris Hedges addressed an audience of 40 or so veterans and their supporters, calling for the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. Speeches were followed by the laying of floral tributes at the memorial and the reading of the names of the fallen. At 10:15 pm, the police informed the group that the memorial was officially closed and that if they remained they would be arrested. Many chose to continue reading names and laying flowers until they were handcuffed and taken away. One of those arrested was an 85-year-old Word War II Army combat veteran.
With an opportunity to honor those who gave their lives in protection of our liberty and uphold the First Amendment protections of those gathered to remember them, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the leadership of the New York Police Department chose instead to make arrests, that determination having been clearly made hours earlier, with squad cars beginning to line up along Water Street before 8:30 p.m. |
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