Fact sheet (info from Voices for Creative
Nonviolence)
Peace and Justice Works
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065
pjw@pjw.info
http://www.pjw.info
For Immediate Release
January 3, 2012
Event: Rally and march to Shut Down Guantanamo Bay Prison
Date: Friday, January 6, 2012
Time: 5:00 PM
Place: Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW Broadway & SW Yamhill,
downtown Portland
Contacts:
PPRC (503) 344-5078
pprc@riseup.net www.pprc-news.org
Peace and Justice Works (503) 236-3065
pjw@pjw.info
Portlanders to Rally and March to Shut Down
Guantanamo Bay Prison after 10 Years
Friday, January 6, 2012, 5 PM, Pioneer Courthouse
Square
Local peace and justice groups are joining an international call to
action to shut down the U.S. prison complex at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
this Friday, January 6, 2012. The local action will take place
beginning at the SW corner of Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW Broadway
and Yamhill, in downtown Portland, before a march begins at
approximately 5:15 PM.
Says Amnesty International:
"Despite President Obama's pledge to close the Guantanamo detention
facility by 22 January 2010, 171 men were being held there in
mid-December 2011. At least 12 of those transferred to Guantanamo on
11 January 2002 were still held there. One of them is serving a life
sentence after being convicted by a military commission in 2008. None
of the other 11 has been charged." (link)
Most held at the facility have been denied access to legal help;
many have been exposed to harsh conditions that have been described
as torture.
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture
(www.nrcat.org)
and others are joining Amnesty on January 11, the exact 10 year
anniversary of the detention camp, in Washington DC for a protest.
Local groups organizing the Friday rally include Peace and Justice
Works (PJW) and Portland Peaceful Response Coalition (PPRC).
PJW and PPRC echo the national call for participants to wear
orange t- shirts, armbands or other orange clothing on January 6th
to symbolize the prisoners' jumpsuits.
PPRC has held weekly rallies since November of 2001 at Pioneer
Courthouse Square.
For local information call Peace and Justice Works at 503-236-3065 or
Portland Peaceful Response Coalition at 503-344-5078.
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