Thursday, March 28, 2013 | 10:42 a.m.
Creech Air Force Base
Some 40 protesters arrived Wednesday outside Creech Air Force Base carrying papers symbolically indicting President Barack Obama and banners decrying drone strikes; they blocked traffic into the base and spread their anti-drone message.
And eight of them left in the back of a Metro Police patrol car, arrested for disturbing the peace and blocking the road.
The anti-drone protest was part of Nevada Desert Experience’s annual 64-mile Sacred Peace Walk that started Sunday in Las Vegas and will end Thursday at the Nevada National Security Site in Mercury. The site is a former federal nuclear proving ground.
Along the way, the walkers stopped outside the military base in Indian Springs to protest. Nevada Desert Experience coordinator Jim Haber said the protesters did not cross onto the Air Force’s property, but they did try to block incoming traffic. Metro officials said the protesters were arrested after they ignored police orders to leave the road.
Haber said it’s not unusual for members of the group to be arrested for disturbing the peace. Instead, he said it’s almost become a tradition the past four years.
“It’s more a statement that what’s going on are war crimes,” Haber said of the United States’ drone strikes. “And we all have responsibility to stop it as best as we can.”
The eight protesters (five men and three women) were issued citations, given a court date in June and released later that afternoon.
By Thursday, Haber said they had rejoined the protest, picking up right where they left off – marching to Mercury.
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