Peaceful protest at City Hall

A group of young adults tried to bring some attention to the kidnapping of children in Uganda by camping outside Spokane City Hall over the weekend until they could be “rescued.”

They were part of a national protest called “Invisible children” which set up demonstrations in some 80 cities around the United States.They started Saturday at Lewis and Clark High School, about 160 strong, on Saturday, then shifted to City Hall on Sunday where they passed the time drawing on the sidewalks and streets with chalk and wrapped in blankets and sleeping bags.

By Monday morning, about 30 were on or around the grassy knoll outside the Post Street entrance to the council chambers. According to the rules for the nationwide protest, they couldn’t leave until a high-ranking government leader or a celebrity came to make a public statement on behalf of the kidnapped children, thus “rescuing” the protesters and setting them free.

Considering that the kidnapping of children in Uganda and other East African countries is pretty far down on the list of local concerns, just about anything they did would raise consciousness to some higher level. So they can count themselves successful.

But the protest had a few unusual twists.