FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 6, 2013

Contact: Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK Co-founder, 415.235.6517, medea@codepink.org

    Tighe Barry, CODEPINK DC, 310.920.8248

CODEPINK Activists Stage Encampment Outside of Congress, Call for No War on Syria

What: Peace Insurrection calling for No War on Syria

When: 7:00 pm September 6, 2013 until the Congressional vote

Where: Across from Longworth Congressional Building, at the corner of New Jersey and Independence Avenue, Washington DC

Washington, DC -- Beginning on the night of September 6, 2013, CODEPINK activists and allies have set up a camp known as the ‘Peace Insurrection' outside of Congress at the corners of Independence and New Jersey avenues, calling for no military intervention in Syria. Activists will be spend all day and all night for the next week at Congress until the House votes on the authorization of military force in Syria, and protesters will engage in daily actions to express the overwhelming dissent felt across America.

Activists at the encampment will present a People's Resolution as an alternative to war, visit elected representatives every day, paint and chalk and create visuals, including a dialogue booth for folks to talk about no war on Syria. Activists will camp out with chairs, sleeping bags, pots and pans, art supplies, and anti-war spirit. Vigils will take place every day for the innocent victims of the bloodshed in Syria, with hope for an end to it through a ceasefire, negotiations, and aid for the refugees, not military intervention.

“Our Congresspeople need to see the grassroots opposition as they return to Washington DC to cast their vote on Syria,” said CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin. “There's already an insurrection in the heartland of America, with people rising up at their Congressional offices and in town hall meetings, saying no to this war. Now we're bringing this insurrection to the heart of Washington DC.”

##