Anti-war thugs protest Easter Mass

Following in the grand tradition of anti-war thugs perfectly willing to resort to violence and bullying in order to get their way, comes the newest story of anti-war assholes.

A group of anti-war protestors calling themselves "Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War" burst into Easter Mass at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago to protest the war, squirting fake blood on themselves and parishioners.

Six people were arrested at Holy Name parish's auditorium Sunday after disrupting an Easter mass to protest the Iraq war.

The group—whose female and male members identified themselves as Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War—stood up at the beginning of Cardinal Francis George's homily and shouted their opposition to the conflict, which marked its fifth anniversary last week. As security guards and ushers tried to remove them from the service, the demonstrators squirted fake blood on themselves and parishioners dressed in their Easter finery.

The red substance, which one protester later described as "stage blood," initially drew gasps and a few terrified yelps from the 600 worshipers at the mass. The shock, however, quickly transformed into anger as people booed the six while they were escorted from the parish auditorium.

"Even the pope calls for peace," the demonstrators chanted as they left. "Even the pope calls for peace."

"And so should we all," said George, drawing strong applause from the parish.

The protesters were all charged with felony criminal damage to property and two counts of simple battery for squirting the blood around the auditorium and onto worshipers' clothes, authorities said. Chicago police identified the six arrested as Donte D. Smith, 18; Ephran Ramirez Jr., 22; Ryane Ziemba, 25; Mercedes Phinaih, 18; Regan Maher, 25; and Angela Haban, 20.

George returned to his Easter homily without further addressing the disruption. A small number of worshipers, however, followed the protesters into the lobby to berate them for disrupting the service and frightening children in attendance.

"Are you happy with yourselves?" Mike Wainscott of Chicago shouted at the demonstrators as they were being handcuffed. "There were kids in there. You scared little kids with your selfish act. Are you happy now?"

In a statement issued Sunday afternoon by Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War, the group said it protested at Holy Name "to reach both Holy Name's large Easter audience—including Chicago's most prominent Catholic citizens, who commonly attend Easter mass at the church—and the many more viewers and readers of the local press, which usually extensively covers their services."

Here's video:


Do people like this really think that by protesting Easter Mass they're going to accomplish anything? I mean, honestly now. Did they think that this would endear people to their cause?

Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War describe themselves as:

... a humorous, political street threatre group composed of college students and young adults. The group was formed in October of 2006 and meets twice per month.

Does anyone find their little stunt "humorous"?

What's interesting about these kinds of anti-war thugs is how unwilling they are to have a rational debate. They just can't bring themselves to actually talk to those on the other side, to listen to what we have to say -- probably because they know that if they did, they'd lose. So they have to resort to these tactics to "win".

Interestingly, the DUmmies covered this story as well, and seemed to be split on their opinions with this protest. Some felt it was out of line. Some thought it was perfectly acceptable. Others thought that it was only out of line because it would be bad PR, and even a few conspiracy theories (it was really us warmongers!). Here's a sampling:

Bluzmann57:
There is a time and place for everything. This was neither the time nor the place. Now I am sure people in here will flame me because it always happens when I express an opinion, but f*ck it. I don't care. I am sticking by it. So I repeat, not the time, not the place. After all, Jesus was anti war. So why try to interrupt his celebration with this shit?

acmavm:
I agree. The Mass was a celebration in honor of the most peaceful human being to ever walk the Earth. If we lived by the rules he tried to teach us, we would truly live in peace.

coalition_unwilling:
"The most peaceful human being to ever walk the earth . . . " - you have got to be joking, right? First of all, there's lively debate as to whether the figure historically known as "Jesus of Nazareth" even existed. Even if the person did exist and even if the Synoptic Gospels give a reasonably reliable account of his teachings (highly questionable), the figure of the Synoptic Gospels alternates between radical pacifism and calls for violent radical change. (I can't bring the scriptural references to mind right now, but they are there within the first four Gospels.)

CatholicEdHead:
I agree. It was not the right time in the middle of Easter Sunday mass. They made many more enemies than friends.

goddess40:
this was the exact time and place for this. if this church is like our local catholic church - pushing the war and support for Bush.

anti-hate:
this is the exact time and place for this. Americans, including Catholics really need to get out of the bubble. Who cares if this upset the churchgoers. It's time to think about how the rest of the world is being inconvenienced by illegal invasions and killing. I am glad these six young people protested where they knew it would get media coverage......maybe it will wake up the comatose !

Itchinjim:
Disrupting an Easter Mass is an outrage. I don't care what your opinion of the war or the church is. This was a bullshit act and these persons should be charged with a hate crime.

earthside:
When U.S. bombs... actually fell on mosques in Iraq five years ago, killing people ... now THAT was an outrage.

Nobody got hurt ,,, just reminded in Chicago.

hifalutin:
My thoughts exactly. It makes us look as bad as 'them' if not worse on this special day.

Lydia Leftcoast:
Unlike the AIDS protests, this is totally whacko because for the most part, the Catholic church hierarchy is anti-war.

It's so far off the mark that I wonder if it has been done by agents provocateurs to discredit the anti-war movement, sort of like the masked "anarchists" who smashed windows at the WTO conference in Seattle.

And on and on. What's interesting is that the majority opinion seems to be that what they were doing was OK, just not where. Nothing wrong with squirting blood on innocent people, just don't do it in a church! Reserve your hatred and thuggery for those who deserve, like our military recruiting centers, right, DUmmies?

The entire act was an outrage, made even worse by carrying it out during Easter Mass. There was no reason for that. There's no real reason for these kind of protests, period -- why is it there's no such thing as "peaceful" protesting? -- but don't try to convince people like this idiots of that.

Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin