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Veterans arrested in protest outside debate

A group of Iraq war veterans opposed to that conflict got into an altercation with police outside Hofstra University on Wednesday about an hour before the final presidential debate as they tried to deliver a list of questions they wanted the candidates to answer.

Ten were arrested and several were injured, including one who received hospital treatment after apparently being trampled by a police horse, said former Army Sgt. Kristofer Goldsmith, one of those arrested at the Hempstead, N.Y., university.

Goldsmith said the 10 veterans and five other people were charged with disorderly conduct and refusal to obey a lawful order, and were released. They will appear in court Nov. 10 to face charges.

Goldsmith, who said he served in Iraq in 2005 and left the Army in 2006, said about 15 members of Iraq Veterans Against the War marched in formation to the gates of the campus with the intention of delivering questions about the war and treatment of veterans that had not been asked in the previous two presidential debates.

The veterans gave debate organizers and the candidates a 7 p.m. deadline to allow them inside. After the deadline passed, the veterans tried to break through police lines at about 7:30 p.m. and were stopped, he said.

“We planned this to be a peaceful protest, a completely nonviolent protest, trying to bring veterans to the forefront of the debate,” Goldsmith said.

Veterans at the front of the formation were immediately arrested as they attempted to march through the police line, he said. Other veterans were pushed back into the crowd by police on horseback, which is what led to the injury to Nick Morgan, another Army veteran who Goldsmith said was treated for a broken cheekbone.

The Long Island newspaper Newsday reported the arrests of 15 people — including the 10 veterans — from a group of about 350 people protesting in front of the university.

According to the newspaper, two people were injured by police horses pushing back about 200 people crowding the police line. A police report said Morgan was injured when he was knocked to the ground by a horse.

The veterans’ group, which claims 1,300 members, used similar tactics in protests this summer at the Democratic and Republican national conventions, with troops marching in formation to deliver messages and demanding entry so their issues could be addressed. None of the members were arrested at those events, Goldsmith said.

Members of the group are not especially happy with either candidate, believing they are ignoring veterans’ issues and don’t want to hear complaints, Goldsmith said.

“Last night, they refused to hear veterans,” he said.