By Luke Thomas
November 13, 2008
Two members of the antiwar group CodePink were arrested today after a second attempt to execute a citizens’ arrest of former Bush administration chief of staff, Karl Rove, failed.
The incident took place during a debate between former Senator John Edwards and Rove who were guest speakers at the Commercial Finance Association’s annual convention held at the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco.
While handcuffed to each other and blowing whistles, CodePink members Janine Boneparth, 58, and Nancy Mancias, 38, walked on stage holding up photos of dead soldiers killed in Iraq.
Nancy Mancias
File photo by Luke Thomas
“Ladies and gentlemen, Karl Rove is a war criminal!” they said.
The peace activists were escorted off stage, arrested, and later charged with trespassing – despite being registered guests of the hotel.
CodePink has vowed to continue “birddogging” Rove. In October, the activist group, brandishing handcuffs, attempted its first citizens’ arrest of Rove during the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association.
“We are demanding accountability from Karl Rove who lied to get us into the war and outed C.I.A. agent Valerie Plame,” CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin said. “If law enforcement and Congress won’t do it, we the American people will!”
Luke Thomas
Luke Thomas is a former software developer and computer consultant who proudly hails from London, England. In 2001, Thomas took a yearlong sabbatical to travel and develop a photographic portfolio. Upon his return to the US, Thomas studied photojournalism to pursue a career in journalism. In 2004, Thomas worked for several neighborhood newspapers in San Francisco before accepting a partnership agreement with the SanFranciscoSentinel.com, a news website formerly covering local, state and national politics. In September 2006, Thomas launched FogCityJournal.com. The BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, New York Times, Der Spiegel, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Weekly, among other publications and news outlets, have published his work. Thomas is a member of the Freelance Unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521 and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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November 17, 2008 at 9:17 am
Lenin and Rove, now that’s a pair!
What they hope to accomplish is…JUSTICE!
November 15, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Hi y’all,
I guess that this double act wouldn’t go down too well with Simon Cowell, but these gals should still give American Idol a go. Betcha Paula will love them. In terms of direct action (with a big dollop of humour and irony) good luck to them. As with Obama’s election, we need more activism not less. A healthy civil society is a product of its many constituent parts, and that includes the gals from CodePink, I think…..
Over and out from the backwater
AJ
November 14, 2008 at 9:24 am
This is what Lenin called “infantile disorder.”
November 13, 2008 at 10:40 pm
I feel embarrassed FOR these women because they are making a mockery of their cause and making the rest of us look bad. What do they hope to accomplish? They remind me of that stuttering John guy from the Howard Stern show.