Nearly 200 demonstrators gathered at Lafayette Park on Wednesday, within earshot of the White House, to protest the U.S. military detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba’s tenth anniversary of operation.
While demonstrators appealed to Congress and the Supreme Court to address the detention camp’s constitutionality, and what they said were human rights abuses, President Obama was their principal target.
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Marcy Bruno, the mother of an attorney who represents Guantanamo prisoners, told The Daily Caller that she no longer believes Obama’s promises.
“I don’t have much faith in the present government, the present president that we have right now,” Bruno said. “He’s betrayed all our trust. When he said he’d close Guantanamo, he did not do so.”
In speeches and with signs, the crowd cited the president’s inconsistent history in dealing with the issue. Starting during his presidential campaign in 2007, Obama promised to close Guantanamo if elected. In January 2009, shortly after taking office, he signed an executive order to close the camp within a year.
Guantanamo is still home to 171 detainees.
Members of Amnesty International, Witness Against Torture and Occupy D.C. dressed in orange prison jumpsuits for the rally, some also wearing black hoods over their faces. Others carried signs with the names and faces of detainees.
Videography by Sarah Hofmann