Judge drops charges against 31 Fort Benning protesters

COLUMBUS, Ga. -- A judge dropped unlawful assembly charges against 31 people arrested while protesting a school for Latin American soldiers.

The 19 women and 12 men fasted for two days and refused to give their names to their jailers when they were arrested Sunday after two days of demonstrations against the former U.S. Army School of the Americas at Fort Benning. They pleaded no contest to obstructing a police officer and guilty to obstruction of a public road.

Upon their release Tuesday, Municipal Court Judge Haywood Turner required they give authorities their names, addresses and fingerprints.

Fourteen other protesters have been charged with trespassing for crossing onto Fort Benning property during the demonstration. All but one, who also was charged with possession of marijuana, were released on personal recognizance bonds Monday.

Protesters have held annual demonstrations at the post for the past decade to commemorate the Nov. 16, 1989, killings in El Salvador of six Jesuit priests.

The demonstrators claim that the School of the Americas, which moved to Fort Benning from Panama in 1984, shared responsibility for that and other human rights abuses by the military in Latin American countries.

The School of the Americas was replaced early this year by a new facility called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, which officials say focuses more on civilian and diplomatic affairs.