Canadian Protesters Stranded in DC

[babylonsister]

Canadian Protesters Stranded in DC
by Olivia Ward

WASHINGTON - In these days of shock-and-awe travel, nobody can be sure whether a casual trip to Buffalo will end up in Syria - or as an all-expenses-paid tour of Guantanamo Bay.

For a quartet of Wilfrid Laurier University students from Kitchener-Waterloo, a two-day visit to a peace workshop in Washington, D.C., turned into a week-long criminal case, with their car as chief suspect.

“We haven’t been charged with anything, but they won’t tell us why they want to keep our car,” said 23-year-old Lenna Titizian, who borrowed her father’s compact Dodge to drive to Washington on Sunday with friends Adam Lewis, Kendra Foord and Jamie Adams.

Their troubles began when they entered Westminster Church in southwest Washington, where environmental and anti-war activists from the No War No Warming coalition were holding a panel discussion on peaceful protest.

“The day went smoothly, until we heard a ruckus in the back of the church and saw flashing lights,” said Lewis, a 19-year-old political science student.

In a bizarre coincidence, the police were arresting people outside the church: an unrelated group of activists had allegedly robbed a Whole Foods store and made off with some items, which they took for the homeless. They were quickly charged and released, but police went on with their investigation.

“Two vehicles were captured on camera,” said Lewis. “One had Ontario plates. The police were taking the car because they thought it was connected.”

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http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/27/4844/