Woman locks herself to Fort Benning gate in protest

COLUMBUS - A woman protesting a training school at Fort Benning locked herself to the fort&#39;s main gate for more than two hours Saturday. <br> <br> Rebecca Johnson, a 23-year-old from Washington, D.C., cut a chain at the main gate and locked her neck to it. She was protesting the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation and the sentencing of 36 other protesters last week. <br> <br> Fire officials removed Johnson&#39;s lock using a bolt cutter. Fort Benning Military Police arrested Johnson on charges of criminal trespassing, damage to government property and impeding the flow of traffic. <br> <br> Johnson came to Columbus last week for the trial of protesters who entered the military post on Nov. 18. She was not among the protesters on trial. <br> <br> The November demonstration was an annual protest of the institute, formerly called the School of the Americas, which trains Latin American soldiers. Protesters claim that graduates of the School of the Americas have committed atrocities in their own countries.