The Rafu Shimpo - L.A. Japanese Daily News

Sit-In Ends at Matsui’s Office
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Saturday, March 24, 2007

Anti-war protesters had occupied the district office since January.

sacendwar.org
Members of Sacramento Coalition to End War stage a protest in the district office of Rep. Doris Matsui. They ended their protest on Thursday.

Matsui

SACRAMENTO.—Anti-war protesters who have occupied the district office of Rep. Doris Matsui since early January ended their sit-in Thursday but didn’t go quietly.

The activists spent much of the day inside the office shouting the names of U.S. military members who have died in the Iraq war. They refused to leave at 5 p.m. because they hadn’t finished reading the list, which contains more than 3,000 names.

“Maybe it’s a little disruption they should be able to stand because of all the destruction this war is causing,” protester Cres Vellucci said.

Vellucci was one of seven activists taken into custody by Federal Protective Service agents. They were cited for refusing to leave the building and released soon after.

The protesters were given the option of leaving on their own or being arrested, said Randy Becker, chief deputy for the U.S. Marshal’s Service.
Members of the Sacramento Coalition to End the War have occupied Matsui’s office during business hours since Jan. 8, their numbers ranging from three to nearly two dozen. They want Matsui to oppose an appropriations bill that funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The congresswoman, a Democrat, opposes the war but does not want to cut money for troops on the battlefield. She spoke in favor of the bill Thursday, supporting its provision setting a timetable for withdrawal while saying she favors an even earlier deadline.

Matsui’s chief of staff, Joe Trahern, said in a statement late Thursday that she allowed the activists to conduct the 52-day sit-in because she “shares their anger over the debacle in Iraq,” but not their call to cut off all funding for the war.

The sit-in has been largely cordial, with activists arriving each workday morning at Matsui’s downtown Sacramento office. Her staff offered them coffee and water and asked them to follow a few basic ground rules to maintain civility.

Those ground rules were broken Thursday when more than a dozen activists disrupted office workers, shouted and refused to leave at the end of the work day, according to Matsui’s statement.

The sit-in had been scheduled to end Thursday to coincide with the start of debate over the appropriations bill in the House.