Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jul 2009
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2009 The Associated Press
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/bc7El3Yo
Website: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Cited: DC Fights Back http://www.dcfightsback.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

AIDS ACTIVISTS ARRESTED IN WASHINGTON

Twenty-Six People Were Charged With Unlawfully Demonstrating in the 
Capitol Rotunda.

Washington -- A group of AIDS activists was arrested Thursday for 
unlawfully demonstrating in the Capitol rotunda, a Capitol Police 
spokeswoman said.

Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said 11 men and 15 women each face a charge 
of unlawful assembly, disorderly conduct and loud and boisterous 
behavior. Their names and ages were not immediately released.

Schneider said the group entered the rotunda and linked themselves 
together with a white chain.

The area is usually crowded with tourists, but police restricted the 
traffic while they made arrests.

The activists carried signs in support of funding for needle 
exchange, HIV/AIDS housing and programs aimed at fighting AIDS.

They chanted "Fight global AIDS now" and "Clean needles save lives." 
They marched in a circle before lying down on the floor.

Police bound the activists' hands together and dragged some of the 
demonstrators to their feet as they arrested them.

The arrests were made one day before President Obama is to arrive in 
Ghana, where 320,000 people are HIV-positive, according to the United 
Nations' AIDS-fighting agency, UNAIDS.

The activists were part of a coalition of five AIDS groups from 
Washington, Philadelphia and New York.

Omolola Adele-Oso of DC Fights Back questioned why lawmakers were 
bailing out financial institutions instead of devoting more dollars 
to AIDS programs.

"HIV is not in a recession," Adele-Oso said in a written statement 
from the coalition about the demonstration. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake