Christine Gaunt and Elton Davis were to have been sentenced on Friday, November 12, for trespassing after taking their protest of the funding of the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine to the offices of Iowa’s US senators in the Des Moines Federal Building. The sentencing, at which the Polk County Attorney will now ask only for fines, has been rescheduled for Wednesday, November 17. The prosecutor also said that contempt proceedings against Gaunt, who had returned to her protests at the Federal Building in resistance to a judge’s pretrial release condition, will not be pursued.
On February 22, 2010, Chris Gaunt began conducting a weekly sit-in at the local offices of her US Senators, Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin, in Des Moines, Iowa, urging them to refuse any further funding for war. A number of other local peace activists joined Chris in conjunction with The Peaceable Assembly Campaign. As part of the sit-ins which took place during office hours, Chris made a point of connecting with the office staff, person-to-person, while she endeavored to educate them on the dire urgency of ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite these efforts, it was clear that the Senators themselves were not willing to seriously consider voting against war funding or even listen to the rationale that Chris and others were offering. Chris recognized that, to be taken seriously, more had to be done.
On March 11, 2010, Chris changed the weekly peaceful sit-in to a peaceful die-in. She lay down on the floor as if she were dead, with a note explaining that she would remain there until she could get a straight answer from the senator about cutting off funds for the wars. The office staff called on the police to physically remove and arrest her. She and others have returned to conduct die-ins nearly every week, a total of eleven times, since. Speaking of the results, Chris describes the opportunities she has had to interact with a variety of people, including Senate staffers at all levels, both in Iowa & DC, Federal Building Security Officers, Police Officers, Prosecutors, and now Judges.
Below is a poem Chris wrote about her experience as well as an excerpt from a letter to Senators Grassley and Harkin and their staffs.
Despite the evidence that the defendants were “peaceably assembled for the redress of grievances” and that their first amendment rights had been “abridged” by the police orders in question, Judge Magistrate Celeste Bremer found Christine Gaunt (on four counts) Kirk Brown, Ed Bloomer, Renee Espeland, Elton Davis, Brian Terrell, Mona Shaw guilty and imposed a $50 fine per count. Commander Goldberg’s hopes for injunctive relief from such assemblies were disappointed, however, by Judge Bremer’s final words to those she had convicted and fined- “I hope that your witness to the senators continues and expands!”
Minneapolis, MN - Nine people were arrested here, April 13, at the office of Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar after refusing to leave her office. Protesters talked with Klobuchar by telephone. When she refused to make a commitment to voting against funding for the war in Afghanistan, the peace activists decided to remain in her office until they were arrested. Earlier, about 100 people rallied in front of the office.
Nine social justice advocates were arrested this Tuesday (April 13) at the office of US Senator Amy Klobuchar (D - MN). Over 100 individuals gathered outside the Senator’s Minneapolis office seeking a commitment from her to oppose any further funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They achieved a conference call with the Senator, but opted to remain in nonviolent civil resistance after the Senator failed to publicly commit to oppose any further funding for the wars.
A charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor against the mother of a 12-year-old war protester has been dropped.
Frankie Hughes, daughter of Renee Lynn Espeland, 49, of Des Moines, was charged last Wednesday with trespassing when she allegedly refused to leave U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin’s office in downtown Des Moines.
The following morning police wrote a misdemeanor ticket to Espeland for contributing to the delinquency of a minor for allegedly encouraging and contributing to her daughter’s arrest.
The group met with the staffs of both senators on April 6th, and on April 8th, seventy-five people attended an action at Senator Franken’s office. They began the action by reading the names of soldiers from Minnesota and civilians from Afghanistan that have been killed during the U.S. war and occupation of Afghanistan. A group of about 15 then went into the offices of the Senator while others symbolically ‘threw shoes at the occupation’ and participated in a ‘die-in’ in front of the building.
Photo by ANDREA MELENDEZ/THE REGISTERBy Brian Terrell
April 9, 2010
Des Moines—On Wednesday afternoon, April 7, Christine Gaunt, 53, of Grinnell, Iowa, and Frankie Hughes, 12, of Des Moines, were arrested for trespass in the Des Moines offices of Iowa Senator Tom Harkin. Chris and Frankie were in Harkin’s office as participants in the Peaceable Assembly Campaign (PAC), a national campaign seeking an end to the U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and an end to U.S. support of the continued occupation of the Palestinian territories. Each Thursday afternoon since October 29, Iowans participating in the campaign have hand delivered petitions to the offices of Senators Grassley and Harkin encouraging them to sponsor and vote for legislation consistent with the campaign’s goals that include ending the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, ending military aid to Israel and converting excessive military spending to human needs abroad and in the U.S.
On Monday afternoon, February 23, the Des Moines offices of Iowa’s Senators Grassley and Harkin were occupied by members of the Peaceable Assembly Campaign, PAC. The PAC is a national campaign seeking an end to the U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and an end to U.S. support of the continued occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Each Thursday afternoon since October 29, Iowans participating in the campaign have hand delivered petitions to the Des Moines offices of Senators Grassley and Harkin encouraging them to sponsor and vote for legislation consistent with the campaign’s goals that include ending the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, ending military aid to Israel and converting excessive military spending to human needs abroad and in the U.S. As neither senator had responded to these repeated appeals, more than a dozen Iowans visited their offices on Monday to wait for the senators’ agreements to join them in ending these illegal and wasteful wars of aggression.
The severity of the charges and the harsh conditions of the D.C. jails may have been designed to deter activists from traveling to Washington, D.C. to exercise their right to free speech and participate in nonviolent direct action.
