TV star gagged for war protest
From correspondents in Los Angeles
March 27, 2003
THE actor who stars as the US president in a hit TV show has appeared in
Los Angeles wearing a duct-tape gag bearing the word "Peace".
Movie star and anti-war activist Martin Sheen, who plays the president in
The West Wing, silently led a peace vigil during which fellow demonstrators
read a "prayer" he had written.
"By some demented form of logic, the men, women and children of Iraq are
relegated to 'collateral damage' as the dogs of war slouch toward Baghdad,"
it said.
About 60 people turned out for the vigil for peace and the safe return of
US troops currently engaged in the invasion of Iraq.
Protesters brandished placards bearing slogans such as "Stop US War in
Iraq", "Peace Now" and "We Support Our Troops - Bring Them Back Alive".
The demonstration was the latest in a series of hundreds of similar
protests and disobedience campaigns launched across the United States to
oppose the US-led military action in Iraq.
The epicentre of the protests has been the US West Coast city of San
Francisco where more than 1700 people have been arrested in the past week
in a series of rolling demonstrations.
Sheen has been one of the most active celebrities in opposing the war, and
has appeared at scores of protests across the country's western seaboard.
