Spells to Be Cast at Anti-Marine Rally in California
Members of an anti-war group began
gathering Friday with pink placards and banners outside of a
controversial Marine Corps Recruiting Center in Berkeley, Calif., where
Code Pink had promised to use witchcraft to rally against the Iraq war.
Code
Pink members unfurled a pink banner reading "Troops Home Now" Friday
and waved signs as they began the protest, which they have promised
would include incantations and pointy hats for a "witches, crones and
sirens" day.
"Women are coming to cast spells
and do rituals and to impart wisdom to figure out how we're going to
end war," Zanne Sam Joi of Bay Area Code Pink told FOXNews.com.
A
few women stood outside the recruiting center Friday with signs that
read "Peace" and "Warmongers — Eating Our Children for Profit." Many
wore pink T-shirts.
Members of the pro-troops
group Move Forward America came to the center armed with packages of
salt, which they planned to spread around the recruiting station to
keep the Marines safe from spells. The group's Web site implored
members to bring brooms to "mock the anti-American witches of Code
Pink."
Code Pink's protest capped a Mother's
Day week's worth of themed protests, which included days to galvanize
grannies and bring-your-daughter-to-protest. The planned events appear
to have done little to boost the protesters' flagging numbers.A FOX News camera, which has a 24/7 live shot of
the recruiting center's front door, recorded little action, and the
gatherings have, until this point, been ill-attended.
In February, the Marine Corps Recruiting
Center was the site of fierce pro- and anti-war protests. It made
national headlines when Berkeley City Council voted to send a letter to
the recruiting station advising the Marines they were not welcome.
Council members later moderated their position, saying they oppose the
war in Iraq but support the troops.
Code Pink —
which was given parking and noise permits by the City Council and is
allowed to protest during the recruiting center's business hours — has
been protesting daily since September.
The
group frequently announces bizarre theme weeks in front of the office,
but its members' numbers have been dwindling and the events get little
media attention.
Now, after three months of
continual protest, their actions barely capture the attention of even
the Marines at the recruiting center.
Capt. John Paul Wheatcroft said he's unfazed by Code Pink's antics.
"They're
always in pink and wear funny things, half-shaved heads, one side with
hair and the other one bald," he told FOXNews.com. "Yeah, I'm pretty
much used to anything."
Code Pink said that
grandmothers did show up for Monday's protest — some more than 90 years
old, some in wheelchairs — and began knocking on the door of the
recruiting center."The grandmothers were here and tried to get
recruited," Joi said. "They tried to have conversations with the
Marines, but the Marines were too scared to talk."
Wheatcroft,
who was the Marine on the other side of the door, said he was not
afraid of the grannies. He just didn't open the door.
"Most
of the time they are just practicing their right to protest and their
freedom of speech or whatever, so it's not usually a problem for us,"
Wheatcroft told FOXNews.com. "But sometimes it crosses the line, and
that happened [Monday] when the grannies were here blocking the
entrance and banging on the door."
On Tuesday,
Code Pink's theme was "fierce mothers raging against war," Joi said, to
talk about all the mothers killed and raped in war. Wednesday's theme
was "bring your daughter to the protest," where daughters explained why
they don't want their parents fighting the war. Thursday was "sisters
don't allow sisters to live in war zones" day, and the week was to wrap
up Friday with "witches, crones and sirens" day.
Code Pink isn't the only group that has seen numbers drop amid rallying around the Marine recruiting center.
Kimberly
Wagner, Berkeley College Republicans activism chair, who is dating a
Marine, said her group has been trying to keep up a presence outside
the center since Feb. 13, when Code Pink's parking permit went into
effect.
The college Republicans are fighting to
acquire the same parking permits that Code Pink has. A resolution to
grant the group an equal permit will be entered and voted upon in the
May 20 council meeting.
Wagner said showing up
to rally is especially hard due to final exams, which begin on Monday,
but she said she will be there — this week and every week — "as a
reminder to Code Pink that not everybody agrees with them."
When
asked if she was planning any special events to counter Code Pink's
theme week, Wagner said: "We try not to do anything embarrassing." She
added, "We're just going to stick with our regular thing because we
have lives and they don't."
But if events this
week are an attempt by anti-war protesters to remarket their cause, the
Marine recruiters in Berkeley tell FOXNews.com that Code Pink's
presence outside their office has helped — not hindered — their mission.
"Ironically,
it's actually helped us by putting our name out. We're now well-known.
And people know who we are, and where we are, and they come in to talk
to us about enlisting. They've gotten us the publicity that we could've
never afforded to pay for ourselves," Wheatcroft told FOXNews.com.
"Just
in the last three weeks, 10 people came in looking to apply, looking to
become Marine officers, and that's much higher than normal," he said.
Wheatcroft
could not give exact figures on recruiting numbers, and officials at
the Marine Corps' national headquarters did not respond to repeated
requests for information.
As for what's brewing
outside his recruiting center this week, Wheatcroft responded, "I think
witches won't shock me, but it'll be a change of pace, so that's nice.
"Do you think they'll bring their cauldron?"
Fri May 09, 2008 2:10 pm