WEEKLY PUBLICATION OF THE ALTERNATIVE NEWS COLLECTIVE
ALTERNATIVE PRESS BUFFALO, N.Y.
WEATHER: ACID RAIN TODAY IN NEW YORK STATE. CHANCE OF ACID SNOW IN
CANADA. HOT AIR BLOWING IN FROM WASH. D.C.. CHANCE OF FALLOUT
TOMORROW.
Volume 6 Issue 15 February 16-22, 1984
AFFIDAVIT OF CONCEPCION PlCClOTTO
I, Concepcion Picciotto, under the penalty of perjury, hereby depose and
state that:
On January 22, 1984, at about six AM, a small blue automobile stopped in
front of my anti-nuclear protest signs on the south side of Lafayette Park,
bordering Pennsylvania Ave. facing the White House. A man, who later identified
himself to Park police officers as John Deming, U.S. Marine Corps, Navy Annex,
Va., emerged from the passenger door of the automobile. Mr. Deming walked to the
end of my signs, and punched a sign which read, "Live by the bomb; die by the
bomb." He then kicked the sign, breaking it.
I recognized Mr. Deming from an occasion which had occurred approximately
two months earlier. At that time, during the late evening, Mr. Deming had
accosted me in the same location, the site of a round the clock vigil against
nuclear weapons which I have been maintaining for over two and one half years.
Mr. Deming repeatedly cursed and threatened, telling me that he had been trained
to kill. After some time, a police officer arrived, and told Mr. Deming to
leave. Before leaving, Mr. Deming warned me that he would be back.
When I noticed what Mr. Deming was doing to my sign on the morning of the
22, I asked him why he was doing it. He told me, "These signs are shit!" He then
began calling me a number of names including "communist", and "nigger", and told
me to "get out of this country". He began to advance on in a threatening manner,
and I told him I was going to take the license number of the car. He got back in
the car, and drove west on Pennsylvania Ave. before I could get the number.
A short time later I saw a man approaching from the west. I did not
immediately recognize Mr. Deming because he was now wearing a blue ski jacket,
while he had been coatless when , he left in the car.
Mr. Deming walked past me and began to punch holes in a sign which read:
"God is the Absolute."
"You are a coward", I yelled at Mr. Deming, terrified at his behavior.
Mr. Deming then punched me in the mouth. He grabbed the aluminum head-dress
which I wear, and forced it down over my face, cutting the bridge of my nose. He
held the head- dress over my face making it hard for me to breathe, and
increasing my terror. I broke away, and ran into the street. screaming for help.
I saw Mr. John Foxcroft and called for him to phone the police.
At about that time my friend. William Thomas, arrived at the signs, and Mr.
Deming immediately attacked Thomas by punching him repeatedly in the head,
knocking Thomas to the ground more than once.
Park police officers Rico Woods and Charles Stubby arrived shortly after.
They summoned an ambulance to inspect my wounds, and questioned Mr. Deming
briefly, before he was driven away in an Armed Forces police car.
This is at least the third occasion on which Thomas has been physically
assaulted by a U.S. marine in connection with our protest activities, and at
least the fourth occasion on which s marine has attacked our signs.
WEEKLY PUBLICATION OF THE ALTERNATIVE NEWS COLLECTIVE