On September 6, 2007, Adam Kokesh (IVAW) and Tina Richards (Grassroots America) were arrested in Washington, D.C. for defying a federal government ban on posting promotional material for the September 15th Antiwar Rally, to be held in this city. The rally is sponsored by the ANSWER coalition. The arrests took place at the corner of H. St. and Jackson Place NW, near Lafayette Park, just north of the White House. Mr. Kokesh is the co-chair elect of the Iraq Veterans Against the War. Marine Mom Richards is the CEO of Grassroots America. The activists placed promotional posters on a traffic box, which supposedly falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Interior and the National Parks Service. Recently, the District of Columbia government imposed draconian fines on the ANSWER coalition for placing political literature around town. As a result, the ANSWER coalition has filed a lawsuit in Federal Court challenging the Constitutionality of the local government's action. For more background on this important First Amendment issue, go to: http://answer.pephost.org/site/PageSe...,

Also arrested at the scene by the Park Police was Ian Thompson. He is with the ANSWER coalition's LA division. Mr. Thompson is also an attorney.

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More than a dozen police officers converged at a corner of Lafayette Square yesterday, bringing with them a horse and extra handcuffs.

Their target: a handful of demonstrators who had gathered to post two signs on an electrical box advertising a protest march Sept. 15 against the Iraq war.

During a clash that drew a crowd during lunchtime, two demonstrators, including an Iraq war veteran and the mother of another veteran, were arrested on charges of defacing public property. Police charged a third protester with impeding an officer.

"It was a case of extreme police overreaction," said Brian Becker, a protest organizer.