Salt Lake City GER 12 16 7 35 USA 10 13 11 34 NOR 11 7 6 24 CAN 6 3 8 17 RUS 6 6 4 16 AUT 2 4 10 16 ITA 4 4 4 12 FRA 4 5 2 11 SUI 3 2 6 11 NED 3 5 0 8 Full 2002 table

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Protesters get their day, too

Animal activists, welfare groups all say their piece

Correction published Feb. 12, 2002: Eternal Victory, a group of churches passing out Christian tracts in Salt Lake City, is distributing scriptural verses but is not protesting during the Winter Olympics. A story in Saturday's paper suggested otherwise.

By Elizabeth White
Deseret News staff writer

      Several protesters were arrested Friday just a few blocks away from Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium, site of the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Games.
      Five people participating in the "March for Our Lives" walked peacefully up to a blockade of Utah Olympic Public Safety Command officers at 200 South and University Street, at the west end of the University of Utah's President's Circle.
      Lt. Zane Smith of the Salt Lake City Police Department told the five women to disperse and move from the intersection to the sidewalk or be arrested for having unlawfully assembled.
      "We're here to spread the message: Spend money on human beings," said Cheri Honkala, founder and executive director of the Philadelphia-based Kensington Welfare Rights Union.
      The union and other social and economic justice groups have been voicing their disappointment at the millions spent on the Games at the same time they say homelessness and a lack of access to health care plague the nation.
      "We want the voices of the poor to be heard," said formerly homeless mother of three Tara Colon, 26. "I think that it's important that they can yell about poverty."
      While singing "Amazing Grace" and praying, the five welfare- and living-wage advocates did not resist arrest, and they said they understood the need of the officers to carry out their job.
      Mark Webber, Honkala's son, said the action was planned for the march, which drew an estimated 200 people. Those marchers not detained returned from the circle to their starting point at Reservoir Park on 1300 East and South Temple and dispersed.
      "I think our voices were heard loud and clear," Webber said. "It would have been a disaster (had more people tried to break through the blockade). . . . We planned it so no one would be in danger."
      American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney and legal observer Janelle Eurick said she was glad the arrests were peaceful and said they were legal.
      "They were going beyond the terms of the permit (organizers had secured for the march)," she said.
      Other protests Friday, described by the ACLU as "passionate but peaceful":

• Two dozen abortion protesters were stopped in the lobby of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee headquarters Friday as they demonstrated against condom distribution at the Olympic Village, the Associated Press reported. Pro-life activists also challenged Mayor Rocky Anderson's support of condom distribution during the Games in front of the City and County Building Friday afternoon.

• After being stopped by police for straying from an official demonstration zone at 1300 East and 500 South, an animal-rights activist showed opening ceremonies tickets to police and was then allowed to enter the stadium, without his sign.

• Before joining with the "March for Our Lives", the Citizen Activist Network carried a mock Olympic torch, loaded with products from corporate sponsors, through downtown to show how corporations and advertising dominate the Games.

• At about noon Friday an anti-homosexual group of five protested downtown, carrying signs denouncing gays and lesbians.

• The Greenpeace Solar Truck, "Rolling Sunlight," is in Park City, near 12th and Park streets, through Feb. 17 to demonstrate the practical applications of clean energy.

• The Utah Animal Rights Coalition also protested on Washington Square Friday.

• Falun Gong practitioners planned to hold a candlelight vigil outside the Olympic Stadium Friday night and planned other protests Sunday.

• The Westboro Baptist Church was attempting to "warn the world" about homosexuality and promiscuity at a rally before the opening ceremonies.

• Eternal Victory, a collaboration of the four largest Fundamental Independent Baptist churches in the Salt Lake City area, in conjunction with several other smaller churches, is making an effort to distribute more than 350,000 gospel tracts in downtown throughout the Games.

• A group of 17 Christian ministries has produced, "Temple Square Visitor's Guide — Little known facts about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," a four-page newspaper tabloid. The publication claiming the church is not Christian is being passed out near Temple Square. Utah Lighthouse Ministry, Mormonism Research Ministry and Mission to Mormons are three of the groups involved in the publication.

• The Utah Tibetan Association and Dances of Universal Peace also had demonstrations planned at Pioneer Park today.

Contributing: Lynn Arave, Derek Jensen, Jerry Johnston
E-mail: lwhite@desnews.com