21 Arrested in Arlington Protest of Bush Administration AIDS Policy

Arlington police arrested 21 protesters yesterday after they chained themselves to the front door and one another at Bush-Cheney campaign headquarters during a demonstration against administration policies. About 120 protesters took part in the demonstration outside the building on Wilson Boulevard that houses the campaign headquarters, police said. The protest began about 2 p.m. and lasted 90 minutes, they said. The protest was organized by ACT UP and Housing Works, a nonprofit agency that provides social services, housing and health care to people with AIDS in New York, said Robert Cordero, director of federal advocacy for Housing Works. "We are here to protest the failures of the Bush administration's AIDS policies," Cordero said. "There are 40,000 new infections per year in the United States, more people uninsured, more people who need housing." The protesters were charged with trespassing, and police used bolt cutters to remove seven people who had chained themselves to the front door, said Matt Martin, a police spokesman. Fourteen other people, chained to one another, were removed from the office, he said. [more ]