FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Jodie Evans, [email protected], cell: 310-827-3046
Activists to protest Saudi Crown Prince’s visit to Los Angeles
*UPDATE* Monday, April 2nd 11am in front of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, 9601 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210, just before the Prince's meeting with Ari Emanuel. Join us to call on WME to demand the prince unconditionally stop the war in Yemen and lift both the humanitarian and commercial blockade. Wake up sleeping beauties of Hollywood, there is nothing charming about this Prince.
Tuesday, April 3rd 11am in front of RAND Corporation, 1776 Main Street, Santa Monica
Los Angeles, CA - Demonstrations will take place at various venues associated with Prince Salman’s visit to Los Angeles. The protesters will focus on bin Salman’s key role in the bombing of Yemen, which has created the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis. They will also debunk the notion that the Crown Prince is a reformer who is fighting corruption and bringing a new age of enlightenment to the kingdom.
“Mohammed Bin Salman employs an army of lobbyists and PR firms to sell himself as a reformer when he is really a war criminal and a power-hungry thug whose ego rivals that of Donald Trump,” says Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK co-founder and author of a book on Saudi Arabia. “It is absurd that the US is in bed with this ‘prince’ who mercilessly bombs Yemen, shakes down Saudi businessmen, captured the Lebanese prime minister, concocted a rift with Qatar and even kidnapped his own mother. The Saudi monarchy also jails and beheads dissidents, discriminates against the Shia minority, and forces women to live under a repressive male guardianship system. It is not a regime the United States should be arming and abetting.”
*The Mayor's office called in response to our concern about his visit with the Saudi Prince. The Mayor expressed he has always been vocal about the war on Yemen and Saudi bombing and intends to talk to the Prince about it. He also wants to take the opportunity to discuss the need for equality and rights for women. He was invited to this meeting as the Prince wants to discuss investments in LA and he has to show up in his role as mayor.