Washington – Cindy Sheehan, the California woman who became a leader of the anti-war movement following her son’s death in Iraq, was arrested Monday along with dozens of others protesting outside the White House.
Sheehan, carrying a photo of her son in his Army uniform, was among hundreds of protesters who marched around the White House and then down the two-block pedestrian walkway on Pennsylvania Avenue.
When they reached the front of the White House, dozens sat down – knowing they would be arrested – and began singing and chanting, “Stop the war now!” Police warned them three times that they were breaking the law by failing to move along, then began making arrests. One man climbed over the White House fence and was quickly subdued by Secret Service agents.
Sheehan, 48, was the first taken into custody. She smiled as she was carried to the curb, then stood up and walked to a police vehicle while protesters chanted, “The whole world is watching.”
A spokesman for the U.S. Park Police said they would be charged with demonstrating without a permit, which is a misdemeanor.
Sheehan and the others were taken to a processing center where they would be fingerprinted and photographed, then given a ticket and released.
Sheehan’s 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in an ambush in Sadr City, Iraq, last year. She attracted worldwide attention last month with her 26-day vigil outside President Bush’s Texas ranch.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush is “very much aware” of the protesters and “recognizes that there are differences of opinion” on Iraq.
The protest Monday followed a massive demonstration Saturday on the National Mall that drew a crowd of 100,000 or more, the largest such gathering in the capital since the war began in March 2003.
On Sunday, a rally supporting the war drew roughly 500 participants. Speakers included veterans of World War II and the war in Iraq, as well as family members of soldiers killed in Iraq.
“I would like to say to Cindy Sheehan and her supporters: Don’t be a group of unthinking lemmings,” said Mitzy Kenny of Ridgeley, W.Va., whose husband died in Iraq last year. She said the anti-war demonstrations “can affect the war in a really negative way. It gives the enemy hope.”
