Tucson Drops Charges Against Five ‘Granny’ War Protesters

Charges have been dropped against the “Raging Grannies,” five women accused of trespassing after they tried to enlist at a military recruitment center to protest the war in Iraq, a city prosecutor said Friday.

The five women tried to enlist July 13, saying they wanted to go to Iraq so their children and grandchildren could come home. Recruiters called police.

Members of the Tucson Raging Grannies, as they call themselves, range in age from 65 to 81 -- decades older than the maximum age for recruits. They have protested at the center every week for three years.

City Prosecutor Laura Brynwood said Friday that the trespassing charges were dropped this month because they would have been difficult to prove.

“By the time the police arrived, 10 minutes after the initial call, they ... were back at their protest on the sidewalk,” she said. “Proving they did not leave after they were requested to leave would be difficult.”

Group spokeswoman Patricia Birnie said: “We were naturally quite relieved because the charges were absurd.”

Birnie said the group would protest outside the recruitment center “until there is no longer a need” but had no immediate plans to try again to enlist.