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Police Arrest Anti-War Protester, 80, At Mall
By Anastasia Economides & Matthew Chayes, Newsday
An 80-year-old church deacon was removed from the Smith Haven Mall yesterday in a wheelchair and arrested by police for refusing to remove a T-shirt protesting the Iraq War.
Police said that Don Zirkel, of Bethpage, was disturbing shoppers at the Lake Grove mall with his T-shirt, which had what they described as “graphic anti-war images.” Zirkel, a deacon at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Wyandanch, said his shirt had the death tolls of American military personnel and Iraqis - 4,000 and 1 million - and the words “Dead” and “Enough.” The shirt also has three blotches resembling blood splatters.
Police said in a release last night that Zirkel was handing out anti-war pamphlets to mallgoers and that mall security told him to stop and turn his shirt inside out. Zirkel refused to turn his shirt inside out and wouldn’t leave, police said. Security placed him on “civilian arrest” and called police. When police arrived, Zirkel passively resisted attempts to bring him to a police car, the release said.
But Zirkel said he was sitting in the food court drinking coffee with his wife Marie, 77, and several others when police and mall security officers approached and demanded they remove their anti-war T-shirts.
The others complied, but Zirkel said he refused, and when he wouldn’t stand up to be removed and arrested, authorities brought over a wheelchair. “They forcibly picked me up and put me in the wheelchair,” said Zirkel, a deacon at one of the poorest Catholic parishes on Long Island, where a devastating fire recently destroyed the rectory and storage areas.
Zirkel was charged with criminal trespassing and resisting arrest. He was released on bail. A spokeswoman for mall owner Simon Property Group did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Generally speaking, a mall has the right to control what happens on its property, said John McEntee, a Uniondale commercial litigation lawyer.
Activists with dueling opinions had gathered to support and oppose America’s five-year campaign.
As Zirkel was being wheeled to the police car, the crowd chanted “We shall not be moved!” Moments later, they moved; police and mall security had ordered them off the property. Many joined a larger anti-war crowd assembled by the mall’s entrance, off mall property, on Veterans Memorial Highway.
They were complemented nearby by protesters saying the Iraq war is vital for security.
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CA supreme court recently ruled the mall of today is the town square of yesterday and the protestors can be there
http://newsquake.netscape.com/2008/01/03/overlooked-the-right-to-protest...
thank you.
GOOD decision. Let's see what LI, NY will do!
When dissent is suppressed in public, do we have free exchange of ideas and principles?
In a sense its really bizarre that somebody would be offended enough , to have somebody removed for wearing a T-Shirt . I mean you walk by a tshirt you don't like and life should go on, right ? No you (rhetorical)get all worked up for reasons that make no sense, either you don't really support freedom of speech and feel so insecure over an opinion you disagree with yours .
Or you support the gradual coming police state .
... is that they believe that dissenting views are like an illness that will rot America from the core.
They have been told this by people like Bill-O when he said at a time of war "we expect you to shut up"; which is, of course, exactly 180degs wrong. That is especially the time when the citizens NEED to speak out and our press NEEDS to be vigilant.
But so many Americans tuned into Fox after 9/11 because they were being given the reaffirming messages of retaliation, hated, and even fear mongering, that kept them huddled together in the dark, hating what they didn't understand.
And that slowly became us.
Face it this is the new order for our country.
We are totally run by Bush and this military-industrial complex which does as it please and answers to no one or law "period".
Outside the mall 250 people were lined up along the highway, all the peace groups in Long Island working together. It was a huge turn out. The Gathering of Turkeys had harassed Code Pink women and counter recruiters in the past so we spoke to the police in advance showed them some of their more violent e mails and asked that we be separated. They were moved to a corner(about 2 dozen) while we got the whole long block. Of course the local cable coverage featured them and said that we "faced off against veterans".
Inside the mall we engaged in civil disobedience. For about half an hour about 20 of us read the names of the dead while mall security and then the police told us "you can't do this." We were very nice to them and told them we understood and then kept reading. Several warnings were given, and then they arrested me for criminal trespass.
The police were polite and seemed regretful at arresting me. They told me stories of their own families encounters with the military. I was released with a future court date, the same day as Don, and the peace movement here will attend the hearing.
Don was arrested while taking a break and I was arrested in the center of the court. We both stood up for our consciences and Suffolk Peace Network is to be commended for organizing such a successful protest. South Country Peace Group, my peace group made the shirts and gave them out well in advance. People are now wearing them all over. The most amazing description was that Don was arrested while wearing a "graphic" t shirt. Yes indeed war is graphic. The six words and Enough on the back with red splotches. The subsequent story in Newsday of Monday was excellent. Don has such integrity and a history of service to his church and community, they really have helped grow the peace movement since now his arrest has created further issues the mall didn't want to deal with like free speech.
What a coincidence in Newsday on 31 march. Don Zirkel protested the war in Iraq. He wants the troop’s home now. On the obituary page there was Dith Pran who escaped from Cambodia. He informed the world of the killing fields where millions died . That occurred after America left Southeast Asia. I wonder if Don Zirkel will be around to see about the killing fields of the Middle East once America leaves there. Seems his religious conscience only applies to shopping malls not the Iranian embassy.
What a coincidence in Newsday on 31 march. Don Zirkel protested the war in Iraq. He wants the troop’s home now. On the obituary page there was Dith Pran who escaped from Cambodia. He informed the world of the killing fields where millions died . That occurred after America left Southeast Asia. I wonder if Don Zirkel will be around to see about the killing fields of the Middle East once America leaves there. Seems his religious conscience only applies to shopping malls not the Iranian embassy.
What a coincidence in Newsday on 31 March. Don Zirkel protested the war in Iraq. He wants the troop’s home now. On the obituary page there was Dith Pran who escaped from Cambodia. He informed the world of the killing fields where millions died . That occurred after America left Southeast Asia. I wonder if Don Zirkel will be around to see about the killing fields of the Middle East once America leaves there. Seems his religious conscience only applies to shopping malls not the Iranian embassy.
It's reasonable to draw that comparison, but people have the right to be free. If that means that they have the right to be free to kill each other, then that's the way it has to be. I'll draw this comparison for you. If the British had stayed in the Colonies 250 years ago, then maybe the killing fields of America might not have happened (a.k.a. Plantations and the Civil War). Americans asserted their rights to be free and ousted their occupiers in a very bloody way. Everyone has the right to self-determination. Everyone has a right to government they can access. Iraqis can't access their government. There are no solid social structures in place. If there were, there would be open markets and resources avaible for use. Instead, they are starving, thirsty and impoverished. In a country sitting atop some of the worlds most valuable oil fields, this should not be occurring. They have resources for viable industry. Their country sits atop the fertile crescent, the cradle of civilization, the place where agriculture and cities emerged as a powerful force. They now have refugee camps, jails and rubble heaps. Who do they have to thank for that? The United States of America. That's right, in the name of "Democracy." "...Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." Since the United States can't seem to effect the result favored by all people, perhaps its time to let the Iraqi people decide for themselves what is best for them (it is their home). Sadaam is gone. Mission accomplished. We freed them from a hated dictator. Let's not take his place. If they desire democracy, then that is the perogative of the Iraqi people. If they desire a king, then that is their right. Whatever the populace sees fit for their purposes and rights. Americans would do no less for their happiness and way of life, why should we deny them their opportunity to do so. However, in the process, we should not be the instrument by which more Iraqis die. Our involvement tips the scales ensuring that their is no level playing field. It is not the United States' right to decide what form of government is best for the Iraqis. It is the right of the Iraqi people. If we as Americans truly believe that the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are self-evident and that all people are deserving of those rights, then we have no business being in Iraq which is a clear violation of all that is meant to be true via our way of life and governing.