FORT WAYNE – Some of the men wore black and some of the women wore veils.
Some donned masks, some sunglasses. Some held flowers as they gathered around a casket and even a tombstone. And there were bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace” from a stereo, some somber words of remembrance from a man with a bullhorn and very nearly a cremation.
And then, a daring rescue.
More than two dozen people gathered outside the Federal Building near downtown Friday as part of a funeral for the Bill of Rights. Organized by the Occupy Fort Wayne activists, the mock funeral was part of the national Occupy movement’s protest of the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act.
Many civil liberties groups are decrying the act, which was signed into law Dec. 31 and allows the military to detain terror suspects indefinitely without bringing forth charges, even if a suspect is a United States citizen.
“The accused killer, President Obama, colluding with the Congress of the United States, will probably never be brought to justice,” one protester told the crowd.
Some members of the group had signs on their backs that said, “I’m Now a Terrorist (According to My Gov’t).”
When one group member went to put a lighter to the mock Bill of Rights in order to cremate the document, another member of the group jumped in to save it, urging the crowd to not let it die. The music from the stereo quickly changed to a lighter tune, prompting some members to dance in celebration.
