A dozen protesters arrested outside Obama, Romney Iowa headquarters David Edwards and Nick Juliano

Published: Thursday January 3, 2008



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Print This Email This About a dozen anti-war protesters calling for an immediate US withdrawal from Iraq descended on the campaign offices of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney Wednesday before being arrested. Protesters ranged in age from 23 to 76 and were part of a "loose coalition of Catholic peace activists and veteran anti-war demonstrators," according to The Guardian. "I don't see Obama as the change we want to see," protestor Brian Terrell, 51, told the London paper. "We're asking Obama to change." Reporters were shuffled from Obama's campaign office upon the arrival of the anti-war activists, who represented Voices for Creative Nonviolence and the Iowa Occupation Project, according to Atlantic Free Press. "Reporters and photojournalists representing news organizations in Japan, Germany, Great Britain, and the USA were hindered in their efforts to report on a bona fide news event when (Obama's Iowa communications director Josh) Earnest insisted they work outside in the sub-freezing single digit cold," reports Michael Gillespie for AFP. Eight protesters were arrested at Obama's office and charged with trespassing, while four others were arrested at Romeny's Iowa campaign office, Gillespie reported. The protesters, according to Gillespie, told Obama staffers they hadn't received any response to a letter sent in October asking Obama to pledge a complete withdrawal from Iraq within 100 days of taking office and to halt all military action against Iraq and Iran, among other demands. Were going to be here until we get that answer," Brian Terrell, executive director of the Catholic Peace Ministry demanded, "until we get that pledge, until the Senator joins the majority of the American people, the majority of the people of the world, and agrees to get our country out of this immoral war."



This video is from CNN.com, broadcast on January 3, 2008.





