We wanted to give these people every opportunity to exercise their First Amendment rights. William Fisher, who was eating a slice of pizza in Roosevelt Park. So far, convention-related protests that began Saturday have lacked the confrontations of protests at recent international meetings in Seattle and Washington, D.C., that resulted in hundreds of arrests and millions in property damage. Police said there have been a total of 17 arrests, including six people arrested over the weekend who were not identified by police as activists until last night. Several groups created minor disturbances yesterday, including nine people arrested after blocking a street to protest the Army s School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga., which trains Latin American officers in combat techniques.
Critics blame the school for human rights abuses in Central America.
Police dragged the protesters limp bodies, some covered in fake blood, onto a bus. I always get really nervous before I do these things. It s hard to go to jail. You never know what the consequences are going to be. Each was charged with misdemeanors for resisting arrest or blocking the road, police said.