Almost the entire camp drove the two hour drive to Austin on Saturday afernoon, August 19, to attempt to do a Citizen’s arrest of Karl Rove in Austin, TX, where he was speaking to the Texas Republican Party. Tom and I volunteered to stay behind at camp, along with several others, to help with security and other items needing attention at camp while the rest of the camp went to the protest.
The Austin “Pink Police” showed up wtih folks from Camp Casey at the hotel where the event was being held. Several women booked rooms in the hotel. Cindy Sheehan read the list of charges against Rove and demanded that the police do a “citizen’s arrest” of him. A “stand-off” was engaged and when the protesting group finally decided to leave, Cindy Sheehan’s spokeswoman asked of the Austin Police: “So why won’t you go in and do a citizen’s arrest?” The police decided they had had enough of this, threw her to the ground, handcuffed her, and hauled her off to jail. She was ultimately charged with criminal trespass (even though she had booked a room and had a key) and “participating in a riot”. RIOT???
Sheehan, supporters protest at Rove event
By Angela K. Brown
Associated Press
AUSTIN — Chanting “Try Rove for treason,” Cindy Sheehan and more than 50 other war protesters ambushed a reception before President Bush’s top adviser Karl Rove spoke at a fund-raiser Saturday.
Rodolfo Gonzalez, Associated Press
Protester Cindy Sheehan, center, is caught in the middle as police arrest Tiffany Burns on Saturday in Austin, Texas.
One woman was arrested during a scuffle with police after Sheehan and the anti-war demonstrators rushed toward the closed doors and kept chanting loudly after the guests went into the dinner.
Rove was speaking to the Associated Republicans of Texas, and ticket prices started at $200. He was not in the Renaissance Hotel lobby during the reception.
“I want him arrested. He planned the war that killed my son,” Sheehan told officers guarding the door. Sheehan’s oldest son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004.
Police then ordered the group to leave, but some protesters had paid for rooms for the night. Those protesters went upstairs, including Sheehan.
Earlier, wearing shorts and T-shirts while guests of the lobby reception walked past in sequined dresses and expensive suits, anti-war demonstrators carried American flags and signs, including one that read “Check your conscience.” A few protesters unfurled a large banner from a sixth-floor hotel balcony that read “Rove v. Truth: No Contest. Pink slip Rove.”
Those at the reception sipped their drinks and largely ignored the protesters before they started chanting. One man looked at the group and said, “Go Bush!”
Earlier Saturday, the group of more than 70 gathered at the hotel entrance, carrying a large banner that read, “Rove: Guilty of crimes against humanity.” Former U.S. Diplomat Ann Wright, who resigned in 2003 in protest over the war, yelled through a bullhorn, “Karl Rove, you are a criminal!”
After about 30 minutes, Austin police made them move onto grass at the edge of the property about a block away. Dozens remained later Saturday, holding signs as cars drove by, honking their horns.
Sheehan and the group left their campsite in Crawford near Bush’s ranch, where they have held vigil the past two weeks, and drove about 100 miles south to Austin.
The war protest will continue until early September, although Bush’s 10-day ranch vacation ended last weekend. Sheehan’s 26-day protest last August drew more than 10,000 people to her campsite in ditches off the rural road leading to the ranch, but she recently bought land near downtown for the group to camp on.
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 