Sheehan arrested at Bush's speech

WASHINGTON — Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier in Iraq who reinvigorated the anti-war movement, was arrested and removed from the House gallery Tuesday night before President Bush's State of the Union address, a police spokeswoman said.

Sheehan, invited to attend the speech by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., was charged with demonstrating in the Capitol building, Capitol Police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said. The charge was changed later to unlawful conduct, Schneider said. Both charges are misdemeanors.

Sheehan was taken in handcuffs to police headquarters a few blocks away. Her case was processed as Bush spoke.

Schneider said Sheehan had worn a T-shirt with an anti-war slogan to the speech and covered it until she took her seat. Police warned her that such displays were not allowed, but she did not respond, the spokeswoman said.

Woolsey offered Sheehan a ticket to the speech earlier Tuesday while Sheehan was attending an "alternative state of the union" press conference by CODEPINK, a group pushing for an end to the Iraq war.

Sheehan, wrapped in a bright pink scarf against the cold, protested outside the White House with a handful of others Tuesday night before heading to the Capitol.

Sheehan was arrested in September with about 300 other anti-war activists in front of the White House after a weekend of protests against the Iraq war. In August, she spent 26 days camped near Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he was spending a working vacation.