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| Congress Members 'Arrested' at Sudan Protest | |
| 2006-04-28 | |
| WASHINGTON -- Five Congress members were willingly arrested and led away from the Sudanese Embassy in plastic handcuffs Friday in protest of the Sudanese government's role in atrocities in the Darfur region. "The slaughter of the people of Darfur must end," Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., a Holocaust survivor who founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, said from the embassy steps before his arrest. Four other Democratic Congress members _ James McGovern and John Olver of Massachusetts, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Jim Moran of Virginia _ were among 11 protesters arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly, a misdemeanor subject to a fine. "We must hold the Sudanese government accountable for the attacks they have supported on their own citizens in Darfur," Olver said. Dozens of demonstrators carried signs, some reading "Stop the slaughter" and "Women of Darfur suffer multiple gang rapes," in front of the embassy Friday morning. The protesters cheered as the Congress members and others were cuffed, hands behind their backs, with plastic ties and quietly led to a white police van by U.S. Secret Service uniformed officers. The arrests were expected. Lantos' office issued a news release about them in advance.
The protesters called on the Sudanese government to accept a U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur and allow humanitarian relief organizations full access to victims. The three-year-old conflict between rebels and government-backed militias has left at least 180,000 people dead, mostly from war-related hunger and disease, and some 2 million homeless. President Bush on Friday renewed his call for a stronger international presence in Darfur. "The message to the Sudanese government is: We're very serious about getting this problem solved," Bush said at the White House. "We don't like it when we see women raped and brutalized. And we expect there to be a full effort by the government to protect human life and human condition." The United States has authorized more than $300 million for victims of the violence and to support peace talks. Rallies against the violence in Darfur are planned in more than a dozen U.S. cities this weekend, including on Washington's National Mall on Sunday. | |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #17 Sudan can't buy them off, can't threaten them, and is both politically unpalatable and public-relations inept. It's a safe cause to back. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2006-04-28 21:21 |
| #16 Two from Mass - we're just running up the score... |
| Posted by: Raj 2006-04-28 20:09 |
| #15 God forbid they should give a rational talk in order to draw attention to something. No, gotta make asses of themselves. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-04-28 20:02 |
| #14 I'll give these Congresscritters the benefit of the dought here. Darfur has not been in the MSM crosshairs and the rest of Congress doesn't seem to know Darfur exists. SOMETHING had to be done to draw attention. I don't think it will work but at least they actually went there. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2006-04-28 19:21 |
| #13 1 hour publicity scene vs thousands of hours of setting up a protective force against ARAB muslim aggression and Chinese help. Which did these heroes choose? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-04-28 18:54 |
| #12 Lantos and Lee? Hot dog! Sudan can keep 'em! |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2006-04-28 18:18 |
| #11 Is Sheila Jackson Lee claiming 'scrimination yet? |
| Posted by: Inspector Clueso 2006-04-28 18:05 |
| #10 Yes, publicity. Precisely. Not everyone reads RB. In fact Darfur has NOT been covered extensively enough, and is not a household word. Publicity IS required. Besides, its easier than actually doing something. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-04-28 17:46 |
| #9 All those stinking "Free Tibet" bumperstickers really did something now, didn't they Today saw wagon with War Is Worthles, War Is Worthless right by a Free Tibet. I think the FDA needs to peek into our lacka national irony. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-04-28 17:32 |
| #8 Yawn, fools acting foolish on a Friday. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-04-28 17:09 |
| #7 Publicity?!? Big whoopie! What is the plan after the publicity, sending in 2 companies of Green Berets to head up A-Teams training CIDGs to fight? Mouthing off for the cameras and doing nothing else? WHAT? This is the typical publicity masturbation engaged in by the Demos when they intend to do nothing but bitch about something! All those stinking "Free Tibet" bumperstickers really did something now, didn't they?! Unless and until the Demos actually announce a plan for successfully dealing with the Sudanese military and militias targeting the southern blacks, all they are doing is engaging in a very public circle-jerk for TV time. Which by the way, is about all the Demos are good for when it comes to actually standing up to and/or defeating evil in the world. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2006-04-28 16:55 |
| #6 1. Yes, publicity. Precisely. Not everyone reads RB. In fact Darfur has NOT been covered extensively enough, and is not a household word. Publicity IS required. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2006-04-28 16:03 |
| #5 Once again, this proves that some politicians believe it's acceptable to break the law to advance an agenda or get out a message. Now tell me again why I should support any lawmaker that knowingly and willfuly disregards the law? |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2006-04-28 15:58 |
| #4 I would salute these guys for doing something to raise the visibility of this. Why? What did it accomplish in the real world? More press coverage? Dunno about you, but as far as I'm concerned, there's been enough ink about Darfur -- time for some action. But that's antithetical to Democrats, which is why they staged an arrest rather than do anything real. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-04-28 15:53 |
| #3 Fine as far as it goes. NOW can get a couple companies of Green Berets into Darfur to teach the people there how to defend themselves? |
| Posted by: Steve White 2006-04-28 15:25 |
| #2 Yeah, well if Olver and McGovern were there it was probably because they thought Clooney would show up to sign autographs... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-04-28 14:14 |
| #1 Lantos is a pretty serious guy on most things, esp whats genocide related. I would salute these guys for doing something to raise the visibility of this. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2006-04-28 14:01 |