AIDS Activists Chain Themselves at U.S. Mission to U.N.

On Wednesday, about 20 protesters chained themselves together in the lobby of the US Mission to the UN to call attention to what they said was a failure to respond effectively to the global epidemic. The activists had come to the building to deliver a letter to US Ambassador John Bolton. The letter criticizes the United States for not fulfilling pledges it made during the 2001 UN Special Session on HIV/AIDS. One of the organizers, Charles King, said they were denied admittance to deliver the letter, which prompted the sit-in. "We're here to bring public attention to the fact that the United States signed the declaration on AIDS… but it's failed to keep many of the promises it made," said King. Police used bolt cutters to break the chains and remove the protesters, some of whom had to be carried away.

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