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Monday, March 20, 2006
US
Citizens for Peace Demonstrate Outside the US Embassy on the
Third Anniversary of the Iraq War
Today, on the third anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led
invasion of Iraq, approximately 30 demonstrators from the
group U.S. Citizens for Peace—a coalition of United
States citizens living, working, and studying in El Salvador—gathered
outside the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador to express opposition
to the ongoing occupation of Iraq.
Demonstrators
carried two mock coffins, one draped in an Iraqi flag, the
other in an American flag, and each bearing a sign with the
number of deaths since the war began—2317 U.S. soldiers
and an estimated 37,832 Iraqis. Participants also read the
names of individuals who have died in Iraq followed by a chorus
of “Presente.” Several demonstrators staged a
"die in" on the embassy lawn.
An
Embassy security guard initially tried to stop the protestors
from coming on the Embassy lawn, saying they were not allowed
to be there, but later desisted after being ignored by demonstrators.
Strategically placed Embassy sprinklers doused the peace activists
for the duration of the demonstration.
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In
a statement, read at the demonstration, the group called upon
the Bush Administration to “transfer control of Iraq
to the United Nations—to withdraw U.S. troops, allow
the international community to objectively broker the peace
and end plans for permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq—and
to abandon and unequivocally denounce the systematic use of
torture.”
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CRISPAZ Delegation Leader Patty
Adams Leads the U.S. Citizens for Peace Demonstration. Photo:
CRISPAZ Volunteer Colette Hellenkamp See
More Photos
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The
statement also consisted of a broader criticism of U.S. foreign
policy and the erosion of civil liberties at home. “As
United States Citizens living in El Salvador, having seen
firsthand in this country the devastating and enduring effects
of U.S. intervention, we are opposed to the occupation and
are committed to nonviolence and peace in the Middle East
and in our world. We oppose our government’s foreign
policy of using warfare and torture to ostensibly spread democracy
– a stance we do not support nor believe in.”
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“We
believe we must speak out when the U.S. government ignores
the Geneva Conventions, the International Convention Against
Torture, the recently signed McCain amendment and the prohibition
on spying on U.S. citizens without a warrant.”
The action at the Embassy received coverage
from La Prensa Gráfica, El Diario de Hoy,
La Prensa Latina, and the YSUCA (the University
of Central America's radio station).
The
presence at the U.S. Embassy was part of the Global Call to
Action, coinciding with nonviolent demonstrations at embassies
and the offices of war profiteers throughout the world. See
www.aglobalcall.org.
See
photos from the protest (taken by Colette Hellenkamp)
See
complete statement
Click
here to read coverage of the event from La Prensa
Gráfica (in Spanish)
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