Traverse City, May 1, 2003
The TC8 from the March 17 Peace Protest:
As of today, all eight have accepted responsibility for impeding traffic, which is a civil infraction. The criminal charges filed against us have been dropped.
Read their statement here.

Fifteen people blockaded a convoy of army trucks this morning (March 17, 2003) as they deployed from a compound in Traverse City to take part in the invasion of Iraq.

The first trucks, part of the convoy of the 182nd army reserve transportation unit, pulled out shortly after 7 AM. The blockaders converged in the driveway and linked arms to stop a third truck. When the driver tried to go around, several lay down directly in front of the wheels, quickly bringing the truck to a halt.

Twenty to thirty anti-war activists stood across the street watching and holding signs such as "182nd, We Love You, We Don't Want You To Go," and "Peace Is Possible." A comparable number of family members and local VFW members displayed a banner that read, "182nd - good luck and godspeed."

Those in the blockade emphasized that an invasion of Iraq is illegal according to the UN Charter, the Nuremburg Charter and the Geneva Convention. A statement addressing this illegality, and also pointing to the immense human cost of a war for Iraqi civilians and American soldiers alike was read aloud several times. Some of the soldiers standing there were visibly shaken by statement of the fact that over 9000 gulf war veterans have died of Gulf War Syndrome to date.

Dozens of local police arrived and soldiers stood in formation next to the blocked truck. Eight blockers stayed on the ground linked together after the police warned several times of arrest. They were then dragged away one by one, hand cuffed and taken to the jail.

All eight have now been released on personal recognizance or a $150.00 bond and will be arraigned next week.

---

The text of a Handout for people at the blockade written by Randy Bond is here