55 Protestors
Arrested at US Mission to the UN
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, January 22, 2002
Contact: Melissa Jameson 212-228-0450
Melissa Muro 917-400-9052
Citizens from across the country gathered Tuesday
morning in front of the US Mission to the UN, advocating a
change in US foreign policy that would continue the legacy of
peacemaking begun by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In the spirit
of King’s anti-war stance, 55 men and women occupied the steps
of the mission, demanding an end to the war in Afghanistan and
renouncing any possible expansion of the war.
Tuesday’s act of nonviolent
civil disobedience was the culmination of a four-day series of
presentations and training reflecting on the life of Dr. King.
“Dr. King’s dream of a just
society has yet to be realized. As King said, ‘The greatest
purveyor of violence is my own country.’ As I and many others
have seen, this is still true, and our collective conscience
calls us to confront not only the violence committed on behalf
of Americans, but also the institutions committing those acts,”
says Ceylon Mooney of Memphis, TN, one of the fifty-five
arrested.
Joining the group on Tuesday
morning were Amber and Ryan Amundson, widow and brother of Craig
Scott Amundson, who was killed on September 11th in
the attack on the Pentagon. Ryan Amundson had this to say, “Bush
has said that the ‘war on terrorism’ requires sacrifice from the
American people. The nonviolent protest in front of the US
Mission to the UN is really a frontline battle of the war on
terrorism, and the people who were arrested are showing the
sacrifices needed to lead to a true victory against all forms of
terror."
