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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!usc!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ukma!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!rich
- From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
- Subject: ACTIVISTS SENTENCED FOR TIMOR PROTEST
- Message-ID: <1992Aug22.082308.23391@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Sender: news@mont.cs.missouri.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Organization: PACH
- Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 08:23:08 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 63
-
- The ACTivist July/August 92
-
- The ACTivist is published monthly (one issue during July and August)
- by the ACT for Disarmament Coalition, 736 Bathurst St., Toronto,
- Ontario, Canada, M5S 2R4, phone 416-531-6154, fax 416-531-5850,
- e-mail web:act.
-
- Reprint freely, but please credit us (and send us a copy!)
-
- /** gen.newsletter: 121.2 **/
- ** Written 11:14 pm Aug 11, 1992 by web:act in cdp:gen.newsletter **
- ACTIVISTS SENTENCED FOR TIMOR PROTEST
-
- Two Toronto women were found guilty of mischief on July31, for
- throwing blood on the Indonesian Consulate last February. The two
- threw the blood as part of a protest against continuing atrocities
- committed by the Indonesian army in East Timor.
-
- Sixty-five year old peace activist Joanne Young was sentenced to
- three days in jail after she refused to pay a $400 fine imposed by
- the court. Maggie Helwig was sentenced to one year's probation
- and 100 hours of community service.
-
- Though admitting that the situation in East Timor is "a legitimate
- cause for concern," and that the blood was thrown "to express
- feeling of revulsion" after the Santa Cruz massacre, Judge H. Foster
- nevertheless felt that it was necessary to deter protestors from
- "going too far" in their efforts to raise public awareness and prompt
- the Canadian government to take action.
-
- "As a Christian, I believe it is incumbent on me to bear witness
- to the killings in East Timor," Ms Helwig told the court, adding "I
- am willing to abide by the sentence of the court -- I realize that if I
- was Timorese, I would probably be dead by now."
-
- "When I look at the crimes that go on every day, I believe that
- perhaps the authorities have got the wrong people this time," Ms
- Young said.
-
- The demonstration at the Indonesian consulate on University
- Avenue last February 24 was held during the visit of Indonesian
- Foreign Minister Ali Alatas to Canada. Protesters erected a wooden
- cross in front of the building, laid flowers in front of it, and
- distributed information about Indonesia's brutal occupation of East
- Timor. Young and Helwig then threw the blood on the doors of the
- building as a symbol of the blood that has been shed in East Timor
- since Indonesia annexed the country.
-
- The damage to the building was described as "minor and
- transitory."
-
- "The real criminals here are not the people who threw their
- own blood on the Indonesian consulate, but the governments of
- Indonesia and Canada," said David Webster of the East Timor Alert
- Network's Toronto local group. "The Indonesian government is
- responsible for the deaths of thousands, and the Canadian government
- has helped to give them the money and weapons that has made the
- East Timor tragedy possible."
-
-
-
- ** End of text from cdp:gen.newsletter **
-
-