Got up very early to go to an annual Christian peaceful protest against torture and nuclear threat. There was a strong Franciscan presence there. At 6:30am we held a service that included psalms and stories of torture and facts about the laboratory who's grounds we were standing on the edge of. After prayers, readings, a homily, a message of encouragement from a Franciscan known for his protesting and getting arrested, we processed towards the front gates. On the way, some stations of the cross had been set up for us to stop at and engage in the link between Holy Week and the torture that goes on in the world.
When we got to the gates, we were met by rows of heavily armed police. Those who didn't want to be arrested stayed on the sidewalks. Those who wanted to be arrested stood in the centre and walked towards the police. They were taken off in groups, searched, had their hands tied and were led off in vans. Most of the peaceful protestors were in their 50's+ and a lot were members of religious orders. It was incredible watching elderly women being arrested and seeing the contrast between the heavily armed police and the songs we were singing about Christian peace at the gates.
I was darting in and out of people, coming off the sidewalk and towards the police to try and take good photos inconspicuously before running back onto the safety of the sidewalks! One sentence in particular kept coming to mind all morning: "Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit?". When I went to church at St Marks in the afternoon, the mornings experiences brought the Good Friday liturgy into a very contemporary and global light.
Below: our cold early morning service
Below: the cross we moved around with us
Below: greeted by waves of police
Below: the riskiest photo I took!
Below: spent ages trying to capture this angle
Below: an elderly woman with walking stick is arrested
Below: me trying to capture the juxtapositon in a photo
Jim took the photo below:
Below: an elderly woman sits down while waiting to be arrested
Below: heavily armed
Below: the most striking photo I took, I think.
Jim took the photo below:
