Eleven antiwar protesters were arrested Wednesday after they occupied the office of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Capitol Hill to demand the senator support efforts at diplomacy over sending further U.S. aid, such as weapons, to Ukraine.

Capitol Police arrested the 11 people inside the Dirksen Senate Office Building under a D.C. code that prohibits crowding, obstructing or incommoding, a Capitol Police spokesperson said. The code is often cited when arresting protesters during peaceful planned acts of civil disobedience.

The protesters, who were with the antiwar group Code Pink, were advocating for Ukrainian, Russian and U.S. leadership to negotiate an end to the war, the group said in a news release.

“Yes, Bernie should condemn the Russian invasion, but he should also be calling for a negotiated end to this brutal war,” Crystal Zevon, from Barnet, Vt., said in the news release.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Washington has pledged more than $46 billion in military, humanitarian and financial assistance to Ukraine.

A spokesperson for Sanders said the senator’s chief of staff, foreign policy adviser and Vermont state director met with Vermonters who were concerned about the war. In a Wednesday letter to the Vermont Peace Anti-War Coalition, Sanders said he shares a “dedication to peace” and “hope for a peaceful resolution as soon as possible.”

“The U.S. should support a just peace in Ukraine, based on the principles of territorial integrity, sovereignty, and international law,” Sanders wrote in the letter.

  • FlakesBongler [they/them]
    hexbear
    28
    9 months ago

    What international law?

    The ones that the US and NATO violate whenever it's convenient for them?

    • nat_turner_overdrive [he/him]
      hexbear
      19
      9 months ago

      Current big "international law" story I'm seeing today and yesterday is the US trying to figure out how to get around international law so they can give seized weapons from other nations to Ukraine. There's no way around it, they're specifically forbidden to be given to another country and can only be stored or destroyed. Oh well, Senator Sanders only cares about international law when Russia, or I assume China, bad.

    • viva_la_juche [they/them, any]
      hexbear
      13
      9 months ago

      It’s called Rules Based Order, ever heard of it, jack? It means we can do it and you can’t, that’s the rules