Vivid and visual action planned outside Koch-Dinkins press conference “welcoming” the RNC protesters on Tuesday, August 17

WHEN: Tuesday, August 17, 1 PM

WHERE: Outside the NYC and Co. Headquarters, 810 Seventh Avenue, NYC

WHAT: In response to the planned press conference by former NYC mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins, CODEPINK: Women for Peace will hold a bold and visual action outside the building where the press conference is taking place. The former mayors will say that NYC is going to welcome people who plan to protest during the RNC, but CODEPINK will ask “You Say Welcome – We say Where?” to point out the city's hypocrisy in “welcoming” the RNC protesters while refusing to give them a rally permit.

“The First Amendment applies to the entire United States, and all of New York City, not just to a sun-baked corner of Manhattan,” said CODEPINK organizer Andrea Buffa, referring to the city's insistence that United for Peace and Justice hold its August 29 RNC protest on the West Side Highway.

CODEPINK: Women for Peace is the group that brought 10,000 women to Washington, DC in March 2003 to protest the war against Iraq and encircle the White House in pink. Since then it has grown into a movement with some 90 chapters throughout the United States and around the world. CODEPINK is known for its creative and sometimes outrageous actions that have ranged from singing anti-war Christmas carols in front of Donald Rumsfeld's house to hanging 40-foot pink banners off buildings where Bush and Cheney are holding fundraising events. All of their actions are full of their signature color, PINK.

CODEPINK plans to hold frequent protests before and during the Republican National Convention. Last week, CODEPINK activists dressed as pink statues of liberty and created a human billboard outside the New York City Public Library to send out the messages “NYC Loves Free Speech” and “Give Bush a Pink Slip.” This week, they opened a pink lemonade stand in Bryant Park, where they handed out flyers about the RNC protests and talked to women about why they should oppose the Bush agenda.

During the RNC, CODEPINK is sponsoring a “Women Against War” event to be held at the historic Riverside Church on Saturday, August 28 as well as a women's rally and march that will join with the massive United for Peace and Justice anti-war march on Sunday, August 29. On Tuesday, August 31, they are co-sponsoring a “Shut-up-a-thon” outside Fox News.