A group of about 30 protesters, who are part of the group Witness Against Torture, were arrested on the steps of the Capitol after unfurling three banners that said “Broken Promises.  Broken Laws.  Broken Lives.”

Witness Against Torture is an organization who opposes torture and is calling for the U.S. facility in Guantanamo to be closed.  Members have been fasting since January 11th and planned on concluding their fast tomorrow to coincide with the one year anniversary of President Obama signing an Executive Order to close Guantanamo.  According to one of the organizers, Matthew Daloisio, the group held today’s action in anticipation that the Obama administration would not “close Guantanamo within it’s self-proclaimed one-year timeline.”

About 75 people processed from the White House to the Department of Justice to the Supreme Court to the Capitol in orange jumpsuits, said Daloisio.  Those people unfurled the three banners on the steps and were warned by the Capitol police to leave the area.  The 30 who did not leave the area were arrested peacefully. 

Simultaneously, a group of about 6 to 8 people gathered in the Rotunda and kneeled quietly in the center.  Daloisio said the point was to call attention to the story of three men whose deaths were ruled a suicide at Gitmo in 2006.  An article published in Harper’s Magazine earlier this month calls into question whether the men committed suicide or were murdered.  (Article can be found here: http://harpers.org/archive/2010/01/hbc-90006368)  Those members of the organization were also peacefully arrested. 

Matthew Daloisio’s cell: 201-264-4424
Website for Witness Against Torture: www.witnesstorture.org
AP Article on the harper’s piece: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_guantanamo_suicides