Protesters Arrested at Army Training Site

Police arrested 1,700 protesters who had marched into Ft. Benning in Columbus, demanding the closing of the Army’s School of the Americas, a training center for Latin American soldiers. About twice that number, including actor Martin Sheen, had entered the post, chanting and carrying cardboard coffins and crosses, while others continued the protest outside the gates. The demonstrations have been spearheaded for 11 years by Roy Bourgeois, a Roman Catholic priest who served in Bolivia. Bourgeois blames the school for human rights abuses committed by some of the school’s former students. Army officials termed the charge absurd.