More than 100 people still steaming over the outcome of this year’s nail-bitingly close presidential election are expected to protest President-elect George W. Bush’s inauguration Saturday morning in downtown Eugene.
The event, to be held at the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza, is part of a national counter-inauguration protest, the hub of which will be in Washington, D.C. Organizers expect thousands of protesters to convene in the nation’s capital and call for election reforms, including campaign finance reform, the abolishment of the Electoral College and support for third parties.
Other Oregon protests will be in Portland and Corvallis. The nationwide protest was largely organized over the Internet via the Web site www.votersmarch.com.
“We’re holding a consolidation rally in Eugene for what’s happening in Washington, D.C.,” said Ellen, a co-coordinator of the Oregon protests who declined to give her last name. “I still don’t know what the true outcome of this election was. We’re not just going to sit quietly and let them take everything from us.”
Bush will be sworn in Saturday at 8:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.
Though Ellen didn’t know if any protesters planned to destroy property or disobey police, she said many discussions in Internet chartrooms have addressed civil disobedience.
Eugene Police Department spokeswoman Jan Power said the EPD is aware of the protest.
“Like any protest, we’ll keep an eye on it, and if it looks like things will become unlawful, we’ll react appropriately,” she said. “The Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza provides a place for the public to voice its concerns, and hopefully everything will be copasetic.”
Inauguration protest to take place in downtown Eugene
Daily Emerald
January 18, 2001
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