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| Alex Lawson is the co-founder of DC Fights Back, one of the groups involved in the protest. (Photo courtesy of dcfightsback.org) | |
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WASHINGTON (AP)
Jul 9 2009, 5:06 PM |
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A group of AIDS activists was arrested Thursday for unlawfully
demonstrating in the Capitol rotunda, a Capitol Police spokeswoman said.
Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said 11 men and 15 women each face a charge
of unlawful assembly, disorderly conduct and loud and boisterous
behavior. Their names and ages were not immediately released.
Schneider said the group entered the rotunda, located beneath the
Capitol dome, and linked themselves together with a white chain at
about 10 a.m. The area is usually crowded with tourists, but police
restricted the traffic while they made arrests.
The activists carried signs in support of funding for needle
exchange, HIV/AIDS housing and programs aimed at fighting AIDS. They
chanted, "Fight global AIDS now," and, "Clean needles save lives." They
marched in a circle before lying down on the floor.
Police bound the activists hands together and dragged some of the demonstrators to their feet as they arrested them.
The arrests came one day before President Barack Obama is to arrive
in Ghana, where 320,000 people are HIV positive, according to the
United Nations' AIDS fighting agency, UNAIDS.
The activists were part of a coalition of five AIDS groups from
Washington, Philadelphia and New York. They included ACT UP
Philadelphia, DC Fights Back, Health GAP, New York City AIDS Network
and Housing Works.
Omolola Adele-Oso of DC Fights Back questioned why lawmakers were
bailing out financial institutions instead of devoting more dollars to
AIDS programs.
"HIV is not in a recession," Adele-Oso said in a written statement from the coalition about the demonstration.
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