The University Police Department arrested seven protesters Friday at "The Liberation of Kuwait: Dawning of a New World Order?" conference.
At 10:27 a.m., W. Nathaniel Howell, conference coordinator and former U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait, summoned police to Old Cabell Hall after protesters stepped onto the stage, refused to leave and interrupted the conference, University Police Department Lt. Mike Gibson said.
Police arrested Spot Etal of Charlottesville; Jesse Johnson, a University alumnus from Virginia Beach; Anna Elliott Mitchell of Newport News, William M. Streit of Goochland and Matthew Jacob Lowen of Harrisonburg. Police also arrested Christine Anne Pardew and Scott Kenji Warren, both of Washington, D.C. None of the seven were University students.
Police also arrested two more protesters, Lisa Guido of New York and Lenore Yager of North Carolina, on Saturday for trespassing.
The Institute for Global Policy Research of the University sponsored the conference, held last weekend over two and a half days.
Conference organizers aimed to discuss the liberation of Kuwait and the aftermath of crises in the Gulf region, Howell said.
The conference focused only on the liberation of Kuwait, but did not address the concern that many Iraqi citizens, namely children, are dying because of sanctions, said Nicholas Graber-Grace, protester and member of the Charlottesville Coalition to Lift Sanctions.
"The conference was not telling the entire story," Graber-Grace said.
Protesters wanted to include speakers to address humanitarian issues resulting from the complete economic sanctions. But those speakers were not allowed in, said Pardew, one of the seven arrested.
Protesters walked silently into the auditorium carrying signs with photographs of dead Iraqi children on them. They assembled on stage behind Howell and waited quietly for a minute or two, she said.
Protesters began singing "Wake up; the children are crying, children of Iraq. Wake up; the children are dying, children of Iraq," she added.
After refusing to leave, protesters were arrested for trespassing and dragged off stage by police. Howell dragged off Johnson himself, Graber-Grace said.
Graber-Grace, a second-year College student, met the arrested protesters through social justice demonstrations he has participated in and invited them to join a separate protest held in front of Old Cabell Hall on Thursday.
Their actions to enter the auditorium were not sanctioned by the CCLS, Graber-Grace said.
"They felt being outside was a denial of free speech," he said.
All seven arrested are scheduled to appear in the Albemarle County General District Court on March 27.
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