NEWS ADVISORY: After 52-day sit-in, congressperson targeted again for anti-war protests

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Contact: Sacramento - Cres Vellucci, Coalition to End the War, 916-996-9170

DC - Maggie Coulter, Coalition to End the War, 817-521-7856, 480-236-0051

ATTN: DAYBOOK/ NEWS DESK

After 52-day sit-in, Democratic representative
targeted again for voting to fund Iraq War;
Protests planned at DC, Sacramento offices

(Sacramento CA / Washington DC) – A Democratic Party congressperson – the
focus of a 52-day "peace-in" that started in early January – will again be
targeted by a coalition of veteran, religious and social justice groups
opposed to the war in Iraq because of her vote to fund the war.

The coalition said it will hold simultaneous protests at district and D.C.
offices of Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, Monday starting at 10 a.m.
(PST), 1 p.m. (EST). In Sacramento, the protest will take place at the
Federal Courthouse (5th & I Streets).

Peace advocates said they would read the names of Americans who have died
in Iraq – estimated at more than 90 so far since the March 23 vote by
Matsui and other Democrats to fund the war, despite claiming to oppose it.

In Sacramento, veterans intend to ring a loud gong as they read the names,
while others will hold huge banners with the number of dead under Matsui's
name.

"Doris Matsui has blood on her hands. By voting to extend the war by at
least 18 months – and pretending she was ‘protecting' the troops – she is
responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. troops and thousands of
Iraqi," said George Main of Veterans of Peace, one of the members of the
Sacramento Coalition to End the War.

In DC., CodePink and others will enter Matsui's office unannounced and read
letters from families who have lost relatives in the war, or who have
relatives serving in Iraq.

"Let us stop harming the earth, our troops and the people of Iraq," said
Maggie Coulter, a co-organizer of the Matsui sit-in, in an Earth Day letter
she will personally deliver to Matsui Monday in D.C.

The 11-week sit-in at Matsui's office started Jan. 8 and ended March 22,
the day before the House vote, when 7 of the 20 activists occupying her
office were arrested for reading the names US dead in Iraq. Five of the
seven arrested were veterans.
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