Cindy Sheehan and 3 Others Roughed Up, Held in Jail for Delivering Petition

Cindy Sheehan and three other activists were arrested at the UN Monday when they attempted to deliver a petition with 72,000 signatures organized by womensaynotowar.org to the United States mission. The four are being held now at Police Service Area 4, 8th Street and Avenue C, on their way to the DA's office. They are to be charged with resisting arrest. Sheehan is apparently rather injured from the arrest, according to Rev. Patti Ackerman, who just called from custody, with a wrenched arm and bruises on her torso and head from being dropped on the pavement. After initially telling the activists they could deliver the petitions to a receptionist at the US Mission, where they had an appointment to do so, the New York police cited a change of plan from "higher up" and moved in to prevent the delivery and arrest the activists. Sheehan and the others sat down in protest which led to the police roughing them up..

In addition to rough handling of Ms. Sheehan, one of the Iraqi women with the group was punched in the stomach. This according to Rev. Ackerman on the phone. One broadcast producer who saw footage of the incident said the police were "particularly nasty" in their handling of the women.

Eyewitness Rebecca MacNeice was present filming the events when the arrests took place. MacNeice described the police as very rough. She said that many in the crowd were thrown against a building, including the press. She described the arrestees as being "dragged off" in a rough manner. TruthOut.org spoke to Cindy Sheehan's sister, Dee Dee Miller, who spoke to Sheehan after the arrest. Miller said that Cindy indicated that the police were very rough with her and the other three arrested. She said that they were requesting an ambulance.

Ann Wright, who was also on the scene, confirmed that the police were very rough and described that the arrestees were carried with their arms behind their backs. She said at times that their arms were raised very high, which could have caused an injury.

These events were filmed, but it is not known if the police have confiscated the film of the incident. If not the footage of the arrests will be posted on TruthOut.org.

The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees Americans the right to petition the Government. Under the Bush Administration such petitions are not allowed if they run counter to the Bush Administration’s Official Policies. The Constitution is hereby suspended. No rights for you!