WEST POINT — Peace activists plan to hold a candlelight vigil outside the U.S. Military Academy on Tuesday shortly before President Barack Obama is expected to reveal that he will send more troops to Afghanistan.
Obama is scheduled to speak at 8 p.m. to announce that he plans to send up to 35,000 more troops to Afghanistan, which the United States invaded a month after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Activists are planning to begin gathering at 6 p.m. at Veterans Park on Main Street in Highland Falls. The park is located just outside of the West Point campus.
Following speeches and a rally at 6:30 p.m., participants carrying candles and flashlights will march a quarter-mile to West Point’s Thayer Gate to show their opposition to what they consider the occupation of Afghanistan before they return to the park.
“We’re there to demonstrate to President Obama and the world that there’s a huge sense of disappointment at increasing these troop levels in Afghanistan,” said Nick Mottern, a member of the WESPAC Foundation, a social justice group in White Plains.
“We believe people in that region need to be left alone to resolve their own problems, and come to their own political balance without the United States” interfering, Mottern said Friday.
The following organizations are sponsoring Tuesday’s vigil: WESPAC, Rockland Coalition for Peace and Justice, the Orange County Democratic Alliance, Peace Action of New York State, World Can’t Wait, Peace and Social Progress Now, the Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Troops Out Now, ANSWER and Military Families Speak Out.
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