School of Americas protesters go on trial

COLUMBUS - Five protesters charged with trespassing as part of a protest against a Fort Benning school for Latin American soldiers defended themselves Thursday in federal court, while 31 others awaited sentencing. <br> <br> Thirty-seven protesters who crossed into Fort Benning during a November 18 demonstration that attracted about 6,500 people went on trial Monday before U.S. Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth. <br> <br> During the first two days of the trial, eight pleaded guilty, one was acquitted and the judge found ten others -- who pleaded innocent, but acknowledged they had entered Fort Benning -- guilty. <br> <br> Faircloth found 13 others guilty yesterday, leaving the five remaining defendants to argue their cases. <br> <br> Protesters have been gathering outside Fort Benning&#39;s main gate for the annual demonstrations against the Army&#39;s School of the Americas for 12 years. They claim some of the school&#39;s graduates, including Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, committed human rights abuses in Latin America. <br> <br> The School of the Americas was closed more than 18 months ago, but was reborn as the Defense Department&#39;s Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. <br> <br> SOA Watch, a group that organizes the protests, says it will continue demonstrating against the new school.