Authorities cite, release protesters

MERCURY -- Nineteen anti-nuclear protesters were cited for trespassing during an annual rally Sunday outside the Nevada Test Site, security officials said.

They were among about 30 demonstrators who took part in the event sponsored by the Nevada Desert Experience outside the test site, 70 miles northwest of Las Vegas, organizer John Amidon said.

The 19 protesters, including one dressed as Jesus and carrying a cross, were released after being cited by Nye County sheriff's deputies for crossing onto test site property, said a spokesman for the company that provides security there.

"Every day Jesus is crucified at the Nevada Test Site," Amidon said.

"Just the act of building a nuclear bomb is a crime against humanity and God, let alone using it. The money spent on them takes away from the needs of God's children."

The sprawling test site is where the federal government conducted above- and below-ground nuclear detonations from 1951 to 1992. The area remains the site of non-nuclear government tests on radioactive materials.

Among those cited was the Rev. Steve Kelly, a Jesuit who recently completed a five-month prison sentence for trespassing on an Army base in Arizona in November 2006.

Kelly, 58, of the San Francisco area, and another priest entered the Fort Huachuca Army base to deliver a letter to the commander that protested what they said was torture training being given to soldiers.

The Army denies conducting such training.

The Nevada Desert Experience has been holding the test site rallies around Easter since 1981.