|
The students dressed themselves as needles, pill bottles and doctors with coats stating "Missing Doctors." They were released quickly after their arrest, said Global AIDS Campaign Chapter Leader Lindsay Wheeler, who was one of the arrested students.
The GW sophomore said students intentionally chose not to file a protest permit so they would get arrested. The students showed they are dedicated enough to the issue to incur an arrest on their records, she said.
"It's called civil disobedience," Wheeler said. "The overall goal is to draw public attention and get our issue heard on a broader level."
At about 3:45 the World AIDS Day rally moved from Lafayette Square directly in front of the White House and chanted "pills cost pennies, greed costs lives!" The 20 student protesters sat down in front of the White House gate toting signs.
Metropolitan Police officers surrounded the area and gave three warnings over a loudspeaker. When officers began to arrest the students for disobeying the law, the students linked arms and shouted, "act up, fight back!"
Officers had to drag several protesters from their positions on the ground to stand up and be handcuffed.
Gyawu Mahama, a sophomore and active member of Student Global AIDS Campaign, was one of the six GW students arrested. He said he decided to break the law to bring attention to his organization's cause.
"(It) stressed how passionate we are about supporting the fight against the pandemic," he said. "We just wanted to remind the world about how important it is to keep the promise about the G8's Millennium Goal."
According to Student Global AIDS campaign, only 1.3 percent of health care workers provide care to Africa, which carries over 25 percent of the world's disease burden.
The group is demanding $8 billion over 5 years from the government to combat AIDS worldwide. It also asks the government to remove funding restrictions on D.C., which has the highest HIV infection rate in the U.S., for a needle exchange program.
