No Blood for Oil
Date: 1995 - 2005 [[:Category:|]] [[:Category:|]]
Region: North America [[:Category:|]] [[:Category:|{location3}]]
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion [[:Category:|]] [[:Category:|]]
Medium: Personal Opinion [[:Category:|]] [[:Category:|]]
Artist: Brett Bursey
Confronting Bodies: U.S. Secret Service, District Attorney's office, South Carolina police
Dates of Action: December 2003
Location: Columbia, South Carolina
Description of Artwork: A protest sign reading "No Blood for Oil."
The Incident: Bursey attended a speech given by Bush at the Columbia International Airport. He was standing in a crowd of Bush supporters holding a sign that read, "No Blood for Oil." Bursey was ordered to put down the sign or move to a designated protest site, over a half-mile away. When Bursey refused he was arrested and charged with trespassing by the South Carolina police.
Results of Incident: The initial charges were dropped, but he was charged in violation of a law that gives the secret service the right to restrict access to areas visited by the president, which could lead to a $5,000 fine and or 6 months in prison. Members of the House of Representatives, the House Judiciary Committee, and the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, in addition to the ACLU, have sent a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft urging him to drop the charges.
Source: The Billings Gazette [[Category:]] [[Category:]] [[Category:]] [[Category:]] [[Category:]] [[Category:]] [[Category:]] [[Category:]]
