CRAWFORD, Texas – About a dozen anti-war protesters, including Daniel Ellsberg and the sister of Cindy Sheehan, were arrested Wednesday morning while camping on a roadside near President Bush’s ranch in violation of a new county ordinance.
The group returned to Texas this week as Bush arrived at his Texas home to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family. In August, hundreds came to join Sheehan, whose soldier son was killed in Iraq, as she camped outside Bush’s ranch for 26 days.
Protesters have events planned for each day this week, including serving an Iraqi meal on Thanksgiving Day. Sheehan herself, who has not yet arrived in Crawford, is scheduled to lead a rally on Saturday.
After the August protests, local county commissioners passed new ordinances that prohibited parking or camping in the ditches along the winding two-lane roads leading to Bush’s ranch.
The protesters have been invited by a local rancher to camp on his land, where they have erected a large white tent and hung a banner that reads “No Pardon for Crawford’s Turkey.”
But they have also challenged the constitutionality of the county’s new rules. Wednesday morning, a small group set up tents in the early morning hours on the small patch of public land that had originally been dubbed Camp Casey in August, after Sheehan’s 24-year old son.
McLennan sheriff’s deputies gave the protesters two warnings before arresting the group, including Ellsberg. A former department of defense official, Ellsberg became famous for leaking the “Pentagon Papers” documents to the media in 1971 that revealed the United States was expanding its involvement in Vietnam War.
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