Minneapolis, MN – 75 people protested in front of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office near the intersection of Washington Avenue and Interstate 35W in Minneapolis to denounce Trump’s increasing attacks on Syria, Iraq, and the threats against North Korea. The protest came days after the Trump administration launched air strikes against Syrian military air base.

The protest occurred after a group of organizers met with two aides from Senator Klobuchar’s office. Marie Braun, representing the Twin Cities Peace Campaign, told the crowd about their efforts to pressure the senator, “The aides said that the senator is against the appropriation of a $54 billion increase to the military budget. She agrees that this money should be spent on human needs instead. She does not support the proposed cuts. However, she supports the strike on Syria. She believes that the strike was proportional.” The crowd booed loudly and Braun continued, “She believes it was Assad who used the chemical weapons. She says that they have proof and of course they always claim they have proof. So we raised the question about investigating this. The worst thing we could do is to go to war over a false flag operation like we have done so often in the past.”

Sami Rasouli, an Iraqi-American currently living in Iraq, reported to the crowd about his concerns that Americans are being fed another pretext as a justification for war. Rasouli said, “They needed lies when they sent Colin Powell to the UN to make his case which was a false flag operation. He justified the invasion and of course you know what the outcome was. The U.S. is dismantling the Middle East. The U.S. is playing the major role and keeps killing innocent people including children. These wars of destruction are launched by lies. So we have work to do to end these wars in the Middle East.”

Mary Beaudoin, a member of Women Against Military Madness, told Fight Back!, “There is a lot of terrible propaganda about Syria. People believe that this was actually a chemical weapons attack by [Syrian President] Assad. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s illogical. Previous claims, like the one in 2013, have been disproved. Syria has removed their chemical weapons. The U.S. has been trying to increase its intervention in Syria for years.”

Austin Jensen, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee, agreed, “It’s disgusting that Trump has decided to bomb a region that has been impacted by civil war for the last six years. U.S. involvement is not going to help in any way! We are also really concerned by the hostility with North Korea right now. This could be easily avoided by not trying to intimidate them.”

The protest was initiated by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition (MPAC).

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