Washington,
October 7, 2000 - Actor Martin Sheen, who portrays a U.S. President on
the television show "The West Wing," was arrested on October 7th at Vandenberg
Air Force Base near Lompoc, California along with 23 other non-violent
demonstrators charged with trespassing after approaching the main gate.
The arrests culminated a rally by over 200 people participating in an
"International Day of Protest to Stop the Militarization of Space."
The Vandenberg demonstration was the largest U.S. rally on a day that
saw 63 actions in 16 countries and 39 U.S. cities. It was organized internationally
by the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power In Space, and
locally by the Vandenberg Action Coalition, Greenpeace and many other
organizations.
The rally included speakers from the Green Party, Abolition 2000, Greenpeace
and Global Network who spoke on a stage bracketed by giant puppets representing
the four major Star Wars contractors: Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, TRW, and
Raytheon.
It wasn't the first time demonstrators were arrested at Vandenburg. Most
recently, seven Greenpeace volunteers were arrested on July 7th inside
the Air Force Base during a test of the Star Wars Missile system. |
