On Monday afternoon, February 23, the Des Moines offices of Iowa’s Senators Grassley and Harkin were occupied by members of the Peaceable Assembly Campaign, PAC. The PAC is a national campaign seeking an end to the U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and an end to U.S. support of the continued occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Each Thursday afternoon since October 29, Iowans participating in the campaign have hand delivered petitions to the Des Moines offices of Senators Grassley and Harkin encouraging them to sponsor and vote for legislation consistent with the campaign’s goals that include ending the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, ending military aid to Israel and converting excessive military spending to human needs abroad and in the U.S. As neither senator had responded to these repeated appeals, more than a dozen Iowans visited their offices on Monday to wait for the senators’ agreements to join them in ending these illegal and wasteful wars of aggression.
The activists arrived at both offices around 3 in the afternoon and after introducing themselves to the senators’ respective staffs and announcing their intentions, waited silently for answers to their demands. The PAC activists decided that since the senators had been amply informed of their concerns, silence was the better part. For some of the participants, their silence was a Lenten discipline. For all, including the senators’ staffs and later the police, a serious and meditative spirit prevailed over the next few hours in the two offices on either end of a corridor in the Des Moines Federal Building.
When the Federal Building was closing in early evening, most of the activists left the building, but some remained, considering that the First Amendment to the Constitution ensures that the right of the people to peaceably assemble for the redress of grievances not be abridged. The Bill of Rights notwithstanding, an inspector with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement police who provide security to federal buildings) cited Kirk Brown for violating a police order when he refused to leave Senator Grassley’s office. Chris Gaunt extended her peaceable “assembly of one” for 45 more minutes by staging a “die-in,” lying down on the office floor. Chris’ posture provided her with better opportunities for most human interactions with Senator Grassley’s state director and with two Homeland Security plainclothesmen sent to figure out what she was doing.
Renee Espeland, Ed Bloomer and Elton Davis were issued the same federal citations as Kirk and Chris and all five were released from custody and expelled from the federal building before 7 PM.
The Peaceable Assembly Campaign will continue in Des Moines and around the nation. Thursday visits to Senator Harkin’s and Grassley’s offices will continue and more occupations such as Monday’s are being contemplated.
For more information, contact Brian Terrell at 641-785-2321 or terrellcpm@yahoo.com
FIVE ARRESTED FOR OCCUPYING IOWA’S SENATORS’ OFFICES
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Elton Davis, Ed Bloomer, Renee Espeland, Christine Gaunt, Kirk Brown.
YouTube video by Rodger Routh