Direct Action to Stop the War
http://www.actagainstwar.net

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT:
March 19, 2008 Blake McConnell, 415 308 343
Michael Reagan, 510 846 0490
PRESS RELEASE

Nonviolent Direct Actions Throughout San Francisco
Mark 5th Anniversary of Iraq War

Group that shut city down five years ago again targets war profiteers and
politicians with civil disobedience and other creative protests

SAN FRANCISCO – At least 143 people were arrested in direct actions
throughout San Francisco today. Demonstrators engaged in acts of peaceful
civil disobedience to protest the 5th anniversary of the United States’
invasion of Iraq. San Francisco was one of more than 300 U.S. cities to
resist the tragic and costly war and occupation. Coordinated by the group
Direct Action to Stop the War (DASW), Bay Area residents from all walks of
life participated in nonviolent direct actions targeting corporations and
government officials that are profiting from or supporting the war.

At 7:30 a.m., peaceful civil disobedience began. War machine tours of
shame featuring the Brass Liberation Orchestra visited San Francisco war
profiteers. A bike brigade, organized by Bikes not Bombs, cruised the
streets in support of the actions. Also starting at 7:30 a.m., students
from five University of California campuses blockaded the UC Regents
meeting, chaining their necks to entrance doors using bicycle u-locks and
resulting in 12 arrests. Organized by the Free the UC Coalition, students
demanded an end to the UC’s management of the nation’s nuclear weapons
facilities, as well as increased funding for education and an end to the
war. At 8:00 a.m. another group of protesters chained their necks to
Federal Reserve Building on Market, shutting the building down for an
hour. A spokesperson said they targeted the Reserve to highlight the
financial interests behind the war in Iraq. At around 8:00 a.m. the
Global Exchange Affinity Group, in collaboration with others, was
successful in shutting down the Chevron offices on California Street. 13
were arrested when demonstrators blockaded the front entrance and the
parking lot and staged a sit-in inside the building.

Several hours later at Kearney and Market 25 members of the DASW “War
Machine Tour of Shame” were arrested after police tore through a banner
spanning the length of the street during a die-in in the intersection.
Throughout the morning dozens of street performers dressed in white
jumpsuits and black hoods staged ten “stillness disturbances”, in which
they froze in place for several minutes at a time inside the Westfield
mall and the cable car turnaround at Powell and Market. At 11:00 the City
Lights Bookstore co-sponsored “Words Against War” featured readings by
author Rebecca Solnit, performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña, and MC
James Kass of Youth Speaks.

At noon the Iraq Moratorium led a die-in outside of Diane Feinstein’s
office at Market and Montgomery. Approximately 60 people were arrested by
police, including Daniel and Patricia Ellsberg, Father Louis Vitale and
Bill Simpich. “We are targeting Senator Feinstein because she continues to
support the war by voting in favor of supplementary war funding
appropriations, and because she chaired the Military Construction
Appropriations subcommittee from 2001 through the end of 2005, awarding
lucrative contracts to companies owned by her husband, Richard Blum,”
explained Bill Simpich, an organizer with Iraq War Moratorium.

Members of Act Against Torture staged a blockade in support of the die-in
on Market Street. 20 people were arrested in their support blockade.
Dressed in Guantanamo style orange jumpsuits, black hoods, and chains, the
Act Against Torture had earlier staged street theatre inside Neiman Marcus
and the Embarcadero Bart Metro Station.

At 5 p.m., the day’s activities were capped by a march and rally of
thousands of people at Civic Center Plaza organized by the A.N.S.W.E.R
coalition.

“We want San Franciscans to stop and think about the damage that our
government has done to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Five years of
war and destruction is far more than any people should have to bear, and
we need to hold accountable the government leaders and corporations that
have let this go on for way too long – or even want it to continue because
they’re making a killing off the war,” said Michael B Reagan, an organizer
with Direct Action to Stop the War.

“Speaker Pelosi has neglected her election mandate – and the will of the
people of San Francisco – to immediately and unequivocally end the war.
Her inaction allows San Francisco corporations to continue to reap
millions of dollars in profit from the death and devastation in Iraq,”
said Adrian Wilson, a DASW organizer

Today’s protests highlighted the human cost of the war – which includes
more than 1 million dead Iraqis* and 3,900 dead U.S. soldiers – as well as
the loss of nearly $2 trillion that could have been spent on basic human
needs rather than death and destruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Demonstrators used sit-ins and blockades of building entrances targeting
the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and war profiteering companies
such as Bechtel, Chevron, the Carlyle Group and URS Corp.

DASW is a decentralized network of individuals and organizations
committed to an immediate and unequivocal end to the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Today’s actions were in solidarity with the students who
protested the University of California Regents’ meeting nearby, with
those who are protesting at the Marine Recruiting Center in Berkeley,
and with the acts of civil disobedience in Washington, D.C., organized
by United for Peace and Justice.

For more information about the San Francisco actions, see
http://www.actagainstwar.net. For a list of actions throughout the United
States, including a massive nonviolent civil disobedience planned for
Washington, D.C., see http://www.5yearstoomany.org/

* Opinion Research Business, January 2008