Anti-Torture Protesters Arrested In Droves Outside White House (VIDEO)

Sixty-one anti-torture protesters were arrested outside the White House on Thursday in a planned act of mass civil disobedience at the end of an event organized by Witness Against Torture and Amnesty International.

The protesters -- wearing black hoods and orange jumpsuits -- were part of a larger group of 150 that marched in a slow procession from the Capitol to Lafeyette Park across from the White House to protest the torture of detainees held in U.S. counter-terror efforts. Before the group of 61 triggered arrest by blocking the sidewalk outside the White House, speakers in Lafeyette Park demanded that the Obama administration close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and investigate and prosecute officials of the previous administration who crafted harsh interrogation policies.

"This is the 101st day of the Obama administration and Gitmo is still open. That's why we're here," said organizer Frida Berrigan to the legion of detainees. "The only way to decisively break from the Bush administration is to indict those responsible" for torture.

One protester held a sign that played on Obama's campaign slogans. It said, "The Audacity of Torture" and "The Audacity of War Crimes."

"Obama presumably has to listen to the progressive wing of his party. He certainly does risk alienating his base on this issue," said WAT spokesman Jeremy Varon to the Huffington Post.

The orange-clad protesters marched toward the White House, following military-style orders from Carmen Trotta, who was wearing camo fatigues. (Varon said Trotta does not have military background.) The protesters displaced two eighth-grade classes from Michigan posing for class pictures at the White House fence.

The arrests begin as an officer tightens the cuffs on Trotta, then everyone else. WATCH:

The protest is wrapped up as a police officer neatly folds the protesters' banner and the last members of the group are loaded into paddywagons. WATCH:

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Comments

[wdw505]

if you were afraid of bugs.......would i be torturing you with a room full of bugs that do not bite

if you are afraid of heights, i do your interview in a clear floored room 50' in the air

how about a woman interrogator in a bikini or maybe naked against a very religious man.......

where does your definition stop stretching where does it stop....... this country is turning into a bunch of cry babies

[LauraD]

We tried Japanese officials for waterboarding and called it torture. Therefore, to use it now ourselves and claim it's not torture is OBVIOUSLY hypocritical and without question illigal.

This doesn't take an incredible intelligence. Two or more brain cells should be all that's required.

Oh, that's right. I forgot who I was talking to.

[wdw505]

just checking where the line is......yet you can't answer

if you were afraid of bugs.......would i be torturing you with a room full of bugs that do not bite

if you are afraid of heights, i do your interview in a clear floored room 50' in the air

how about a woman interrogator in a bikini or maybe naked against a very religious man.......

where does your definition stop stretching where does it stop

[javster420]

Why can't they slap those cuff on Karl Rove that easily? Absolute B U L L S H I T!

[tbone99]

Some people protest torture and are arrested ...

Other people torture and are not only arrested but are employed in influential goverment
positions where they are well compensated and receive reliable pensions and healthcare, unavailable to the populace at large.

If you ask me the terrorists won.

[javster420]

Yup. That sounds about right.

[peterg76]

Maybe that's what they mean about "torture works."

[realpolitic]

Great protests! I hope the event was covered on the evening news. If Obama does not pursue charges of the Bush administration for torture, the next Republcan administration will again be in the torture business.

[Yaaawn]

Liberal brainpower at work...again

[jdw1981]

Why don't you move to the United Arab Emirates? You'd feel right at home.

[Yaaawn]

Why don't you be consistent and go and protest in the UAE? You won't because it is easier to ##it on your country.

[LauraD]

Why don't you copy and paste some of your condescending posts aimed at teabaggers, too, so we can see how people implementing their Constitutional right to stage peaceful protests is stupid regardless of party affiliation. Or would that be too much for you?

[profitforless]

take a stand , go protest then get arrested - mission accomplished . thats why we live in a democracy.

[Pdubya]

its a constitutional republic. know the difference.

[Tyler-Durden]

it's a polyarchy, not a democracy. that's why the elite are soaking up our taxes to pay themselves for their gambling losses.

[profitforless]

a representative democracy may or may not be a constitutional republic. For example, "the United States relies on representative democracy, but [its] system of government is much more complex than that. [It is] not a simple representative democracy, but a constitutional republic in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[5]

[maggiee]

This was a beautiful protest; Peaceful, moving, it made visual sense. Getting peacefully arrested was almost certainly part of the plan.

For those who say it's counter productive to protest a popular president I wil remind you that FDR told progressive activists from his own party, "I agree with everything you said, now make me do it."

Pres Obama is a big FDR fan. I'm pretty sure he knows this story.

[MoistvonLipwig]

This is a different world than four years ago. I attended anti-war rallies in Washington during Shrub's reign of terror, and protesters never got within five blocks of the White House. Police used strongarm tactics to misdirect protesters and undercover agent provocateurs to create situations where protesters were arrested before they reached the protest site and got media coverage.

[roncar]

Pumpkinbaggers

[harriscrl3]

Of course they were arrested its what they wanted to bring attention to their cause just like the broke up teapartyers after they threw stuff over the fence.

So please dont sound shock like they are being abused by police officers they knew exactly what they were doing and they knew that the best way to get publicity was to get arrested.

Carol

[maggiee]

I'm seconding this.

[lunaticphilosopher]

I enjoy reading these posts because I find them funny. What I really find funny is that this type of behavior has been going on for thousands of years and will continue to happen as long as there are people to behave in this manner. All these posts about how horrific torture is and how it must be stopped but in the right situation and if it was personalized most would accept torture as necessary. Stop whining about what was done. Didn't Lincoln put people in jail without hearings or trials? Didn't FDR do the same? Face reality. This is how people are and it will never end. Just a little Friday morning cheerup for all those who believe that the people in this country are some how different from people elsewhere in the world.

Have a nice day.

[dfuller]

Agreed.

There are times we need to act in self defense.

[anney]

YOU may be willing to be a torturer and support those who are and think the outrage is "funny", but I'm not in either category. These torturers are the people in any culture for thousands of years that others have gone after to stop their actions, through assassinations or revolutions or many other more sophisticated methods.

Maybe YOU should face reality. Whenever there is and has been torture, others in greater numbers will go after the torturers, as has always been the case, successful or not. And in this way, people in America are no different from people elsewhere in the world. Torture by the arrogant and outrage by the innocent go hand in hand. You conveniently forget half of the equation to try to make a pointless point.

[lunaticphilosopher]

So I must assume by now that there is no torture going on in this world or only in a few remote places where the people are less civil. Since there are so many people against torture it should almost be wiped out by now. Reality check. People are the cause of torture and it will never end. I can say, with a great deal of certainty, that if you or someone you cared for was to be killed unless a person was tortured for information, you would have it done. I do not condone torture and I myself could probably not ever torture anyone, I am stating that that is how it is. You may not like it but that is how we are. Your comment about the innocent is also comical. You assume that there is a guilt and innocence to this issue. There is no guilt or innocence there just is what there is. You sound like a person who is denying reality. I advise you to look around the world and come to grips with the notion that people will continue to behave in this manner as long as there are people in the world. You do not have to like it. You don't even have to see it. You do have to admit that it is there, has always been there, and will probably always be there.

Have a nice day.

[maggiee]

Ah yes, the classic, "he did it first" defense. That didn't work on my mother when I got caught doing something wrong and it won't work on me either.

[jeliz]

Someone needs to be prosecuted from the Bush administration. Otherwise, what is to prevent the next batch of nuts from doing the same? Ignoring this is not addressing the problem. These people were right to protest. Even though you disagree, as the announcer said, God bless you all.

They are protesting a horrible chapter in hour history -- not like some goofball teabaggers protesting when they are receiving a tax cut. Maybe if you lived in America and not the Republican's form of a Republic, you would understand.

[wisecrack]

Aye, there's the rub. Prosecute Bush. That's what this is all about for liberals. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.

[HyperInfluential]

Dad said we have to try to overcome that vicious history and build a better place for our people to live:

http://thestressblog.com/2007/12/24/george-washington-no-torture-on-my-watch/

[anney]

In a sane and lawful world, torturers would be arrested, not those who protest against it.

[lunaticphilosopher]

Utopia is what you are after and Utopia(no place) is what you will find.

Have a nice day.

[LauraD]

In a sane and lawful world, people who defend the use of torture like this jerkwad would be next in line for the treatment.

[anney]

If utopia is the place where people are not tortured, you're QUITE wrong. It's all over every country, in millions of families who have the "power" to torture but don't. Not only am I AFTER this kind of utopia -- I've found it in my own life, among my friends, neighbors, and organizations I belong to.

You are being patently ridiculous, I guess to fulfill the requirements of your silly handle.

[RepublicansRejected]

I guess these people believe that President Obama can magically make GITMO disappear and magically put Bush and Co in prison, because he is the Messiah... what kind of world do these people live in where they must have everything done now?

President Obama stated we do not torture and signed executive orders to close GITMO, which is more than what Bush did allowing torture to happen and for GITMO to exist. Yet these progressives are upset after just 100 days in office just because he hasn't magically ended GITMO and put Bush and Cheeney in prison.

Point one, GITMO is a mess thanks to BushCo, and Obama is taking a very careful approach. Do any of these protesters believe that closing GITMO would happen overnight?

Point two, with regards to BushCo, any investigation into their misdeeds would take years, given the amount of evidence that they destroyed and attempted to hide, and Obama can't afford to wring his hands in such a mess, when his plate is full enough, that is why we have Holder and the DOJ.

While I commend these protesters for having good intentions, they end up looking just as silly and counterproductive as the teabaggers, especially when these people are protesting a highly popular President.

[momof3inGA]

Bravo....Well said!

[Pdubya]

52% and dropping barely constitutes "popular".

[landmine]

"...they end up looking just as silly and counterproductive as the teabaggers..."?

Not even close!

The "baggers" were a h ate filled collection of random i dio ts that couldn't articulate why they were even there.
These guys made a unified, dignified show of civil disobedience.

[palmseast2]

The ones that are genuinely "silly and counterproductive" are windbags like you who will always say and do the safe thing -- meaning nothing, and always have a rationalization for it. No doubt you'll be trotting out the same stupid non-argument 200, 300, 1000 days from now. The train has left the station -- you're welcome to stay behind with the torturers, their admirers and their enablers.

[wisecrack]

You missed one point. O bama isn't taking a hands-off approach on this mess because he has his plate full and I believe you know it. The reason he's doing so is because half of the country does not agree with the w itch hunts that many here are advocating. He rolls with the polls and he knows this is a polit ical hot potato.

[LauraD]

There is no "witch hunt" involved in holding lawbreakers accountable for their actions.

To even suggest as much says more about you than it does people who want the law equally applied. Pathetic.

[thenorthshore]

isn't that quite

do they want to simulate that fun game from gitmo

the "drinky game"

[ladycubsfan]

I have to believe they knew they were subject to arrest by blocking the sidewalk. This was all probably part of the plan to get more publicity. Don't be mad, posters! This a GOOD thing. We have to keep shining the light on this travesty until everyone SEES it. Really sees it.