[Dryerase] Incidents Mar Otherwise Successful Anti-War Protests, Nov. Public i

[SARAH BOYER]

Incidents Mar Otherwise Successful Anti-War Protests

By Sandra Ahten

As evidenced by the recent demonstrations in Washington, DC that drew nearly 
200,000 protestors, the anti-war movement is being "reinvigorated," as 
reported in the October 30th New York Times. Locally, the trend of 
increasing skepticism and opposition to the Bush administration's plans to 
use military force in Iraq has been reflected in the growing number of 
people attending the weekly protests along Prospect Avenue organized by 
A.W.A.R.E., the Anti-War, Anti-Racism Effort.

A.W.A.R.E. has organized various protests around Champaign and Urbana during 
the past year. The protests began in the spring of 2001 with a regular 
demonstration near the Urbana Free Library by "Ladies Against War," in 
opposition to the bombing of Afghanistan. These protests later moved to 
Saturdays at the interstate exit at Prospect Avenue.
Until recently, local police have no objected to the protesters' presense 
nor been asked to intervene on behalf of their safety. On Saturday, October 
19, 2002, however, two anti-war protestors were issued citations by the 
Champaign Police Department. Those cited were Ellen Fireman and Michael 
Weissman, both professors at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. 
They were issued $75 citations for jay-walking.

Other demonstrations took place before the Chicago Bears' football games, 
initially at Lincoln near Green in Urbana. At that demonstration, literature 
was handed out for the first time. The next two protests took place on Kirby 
Avenue, and literature was again handed out. Police gave no warnings, formal 
or informal, that this was illegal or inappropriate.

ENRAGED DRIVER INDICATES HE WILL "RUN OVER" PROTESTERS

October 12, 2002 saw the first of what AWARE members hoped would be a weekly 
presence on Prospect Avenue. While the protesters were met with a lot of 
positive enthusiasm---including having people who were driving by stop to 
join their effort---they were also met with negative responses. In the most 
serious, a vehicle left the roadway, and drove on to and then off the 
sidewalk numerous times---threatening the protesters. A woman who had her 
back turned narrowly missed injury; she was pulled out of the way by her 
partner. The driver was all the while shouting expletives at the peace 
protesters. The police were called by the protesters and provided with the 
license plate number of the offender. The police assured Kimberlie Kranich, 
protest organizer, that they would "go talk to" the offender.

The Champaign Police department reports that the status of that 
investigation was "still open" and that no arrests have been made. In fact 
in follow up phone calls we have learned that there has been no investigator 
assigned. The officer who took the report (Officer Standifer) has not 
returned phone calls of inquiry. The investigation number is #70212351.

The Champaign police acted with significantly more dispatch when the crime 
was jay-walking rather than endangerment. On October 19th the protest 
started at 2pm, and the citations were issued almost immediately. Ms. 
Fireman, who had not attended protests or AWARE meetings previously, was not 
aware of the laws prohibiting her being on the street and was actually 
between two lanes of traffic as the police came over the over-pass, heading 
north. Mr. Weissman was simply stepping off the curb, offering a flier to 
cars stopped at the red light. Two police stopped their vehicle and ordered 
all of the protesters to gather in a nearby parking lot. When one of the 
officers indicated that they would be issuing a citation to the two on the 
street, a member of the group asked if they could issue a warning instead. 
“I could, but I'm not going to,” was the answer given by the officer. 
Several members of the protest group reported that the police insisted that 
the jaywalkers were responsible for the traffic jam at the intersection. In 
fact there was a traffic jam all afternoon in spite of the fact that the 
protesters stayed on the sidewalk and after they had disbursed. There was 
high traffic volume, resulting in backup in all four directions at the 
intersection, as is usual on Saturday afternoon on Prospect Avenue. The 
police did nothing to direct traffic and try to clear the congestion.

Fireman and Weissman were ordered to leave the scene, and the group was told 
that they would be arrested if they were on the grass beside the sidewalk or 
on the street. They were only allowed to be on the sidewalk. The group 
sustained a presence on Prospect Avenue through the afternoon. The group 
continues to protest each Saturday at 2pm at the corner of Prospect and 
Marketview. AWARE meetings are held at the Indy Media Center, 218 W. Main, 
Urbana IL, every Sunday from 5-7pm. All are welcome.

For use by dryerase-members. Please send an email to 
imc-print at urbana.indymedia.org when reprinted.




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