New York City police disrupted and ended a speech by anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan on Tuesday. They arrested the rally's organizer for allegedly not having a permit to use a loudspeaker at the event.
Sheehan, who gained national attention when she spent a month outside President Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch in an attempt to speak to the president, was almost finished delivering her speech when the police cut her off. The crowd chanted 'Let her speak!' but the police refused to let Sheehan conclude her remarks.
Rally organizer Paul Zulkowitz was charged with unauthorized use of a sound device and disorderly conduct. He was given a court summons and released, Detective Kevin Czartoryski told the Associated Press.
Sheehan lost her oldest son, Casey, 24, in the war in Iraq. She wants to know for what 'noble cause' her son died for since the president has constantly changed his explanation for why the United States invaded Iraq. Mr. Bush refused to meet with her during his five-week vacation in Crawford this August.
Sheehan now wants to send American troops home and out of Iraq to end what she calls the senseless deaths of young American men and women in a war 'based on lies.'
Since Bush left Crawford August 31, Sheehan has begun a national bus tour to take her message to the people. Her 25-state tour ends Saturday with an anti-war rally in Washington, DC.
