Protesting the president with visiting president

At Walker's Point. Photo by Silva

by Mark Silva

KENNEBUNKPORT -- The local police, accustomed to rubber-neckers making the long winding turn around Walker's Point where former President George H.W. Bush keeps an old family summer home, are preparing to shut down that stretch of Ocean Avenue today for the 3,000 protesters expected to turn out for the summit of Presidents Bush and Putin.

Joseph Bruni, the local police chief, says protesters are permitted for their demonstration, but also notes with a certain authoritative skepticism that their goal of getting within 75 yards of the oceanfront mansion is wishful thinking: "That's simply not going to happen.''

Acknowledging that the police are "taking more steps than we normally take'' for security in the area, the police chief says that Ocean Ave. from Rivergreen to Walker's Point is closed.

This is as close as anyone is getting, but it takes a long, long lens, with apologies for the grain of digital telescopy. Silva:

What follows is a report from the Portland paper on what the fuss is all about:

By ANNE GLEASON
Portland Press Herald

Missile defense, the future of Kosovo and Iran's nuclear ambitions may be
prime topics Sunday for President George W. Bush and Russian President
Vladimir Putin, but a third voice vying for attention in Kennebunkport will
be pushing a different agenda.

Protesters say they want to talk about issues ranging from impeachment to
peace, torture to Chechnya -- using the international media gathered for the
summit to broadcast their concerns worldwide.

"The fact that the world press is going to be in attendance is the driving
force," said Jamilla El Shafei, an organizer of the protest with the
Kennebunk Peace Department, a peace organization formed just before a
protest in Kennebunkport last August.

Organizers started spreading the word about Sunday's protest less than a
month ago, when the Bush-Putin meeting was first announced.

Organizers and police say the combination of Internet postings,
word-of-mouth and press releases could make the protest the largest ever in
town, with predicted crowds of 2,000 to 3,000 people.
People are coming from as far away as Texas and Wisconsin, El Shafei said.

The protest, organized by Maine Impeach, the Kennebunk Peace Department and
Maine Lawyers for Democracy, will call for the impeachment of President
George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Demonstrations in smaller towns like Kennebunkport often receive greater
attention and can be more effective, said Danny Muller, director of Peace
Action Maine.

Protests outside the White House are so common they are often ignored, he
said.

Organizers have secured 11 buses to bring participants from Kennebunk High
School to the Village Green in Kennebunkport throughout the morning and
afternoon.

El Shafei has offered up her backyard as a campground on Saturday night, as
has the Unitarian Universalist Church in Kennebunk.

Last year's protest drew approximately 600 people when Bush was in town for
a wedding, and it occurred without problems, said Kennebunkport Police Chief
Joseph Bruni.

Bruni has worked closely with local organizers for this protest and said the
town will respect the free speech rights of the demonstrators, though he is
concerned about outside groups causing problems.

El Shafei said organizers are discouraging civil disobedience and arguments
with counterprotestors and will use members of Maine Veterans for Peace,
which does nonviolence training, to keep crowds in check.

The Maine Republican Party is not aware of or planning any
counterdemonstrations, according to chairman Mark Ellis.

Muller, who has participated in demonstrations across the nation, said it's
a good tactical decision for local police to work with protestors during
such events. Seattle, Washington, D.C., and New York City faced lawsuits
stemming from pre-emptive arrests during large protests in recent years.

"If you aren't cooperative, it can be a really bad move on the financial
end," he said.

Despite a wide variety of views expected Sunday, Deborah Gordon, a protest
organizer with Maine Impeach, said impeachment will be the central message.

Speakers will include David Swanson, from afterdowningstreet.org, an
organization pushing for impeachment of Bush and Cheney; John Kaminski,
president of Maine Lawyers for Democracy; and Melida Arredondo from Gold
Star Families, a peace organization of those who lost loved ones in Iraq.

The march has already received international attention, said Gordon, who has
done interviews with the press in Moscow, London and Toronto.

Herb Hoffman, a member of Maine Impeach who has been helping out with the
presidential campaign of Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, believes Sunday's
event could bring the impeachment movement more into the mainstream.

Kucinich has filed articles of impeachment on Cheney, though Democratic
leadership in Congress has not endorsed such a move.

"The number of people turning out and being willing to identify themselves
publicly as being in favor of impeachment, I think it will be very helpful,"
Hoffman said.