After protesting all day in the office of Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., five Brown students were arrested Monday night after refusing a request from Reed's office to leave the premises.
The students were participating in a protest organized by the American Friends Service Committee to support Reed in his opposition to the war in Iraq and to encourage him to sign the Declaration of Peace, which asks Congress to pass legislation calling for a timetable to remove troops from Iraq. The Declaration of Peace is supported by over 500 peace groups nationwide, including the AFSC.
Reed's chief of staff asked the protestors to leave at 5:30 p.m. Monday evening. "We told him that we were prepared to stay until we were arrested," said Ingrid O'Brien '07, one of the protestors. The police were called shortly after and spent an hour trying to talk the protestors out of being arrested, according to O'Brien.
The 11 protestors inside the office, including O'Brien, William Lambek '09, Bucky Rogers '07, Kelly Nichols '09 and Randall Rose GS, were eventually arrested and charged with trespassing. "We were treated very courteously, very kindly," O'Brien said. "The officers were very friendly."
O'Brien said the protestors insisted on being arrested because they intended "to stay until (Reed) did what we wanted him to do and we felt that it would serve as a moral witness that we would stay until we were required to leave."
Reed co-sponsored an amendment in June calling for phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and has publicly criticized the execution of the war. O'Brien said "our goal is to support him in what we see as a very courageous action in speaking out and taking action against the war. ... We think he's in a good position to really be a leader on this."
Lambek said he hopes this action will persuade Reed to take an even stronger stand against the war.
"He's not willing right now to make that courageous step, to put himself out there," Lambek said, adding he hopes that because "we're there to sacrifice ourselves, (that) may encourage him to sacrifice himself."
The students were taken to the headquarters of the Cranston Police Department, where they were processed and released around 11 p.m. with a summons to appear in court Oct. 18.
Lambek said he participated in the protest because "personally I feel like I've come to a point where I want to increase my commitment to fighting against the war." He added that he is "frustrated and fed up" with how little progress has been made by "traditional" tactics.
For the peace movement to make significant progress, Lambek said the next step must be "bringing the crisis home ... causing disruption in society to show people that there are costs to this war that will be brought to their doorsteps." He added that this disruption should be non-violent.
