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Homeless Vets on Hunger Strike!

By VVAW

Vietnam vets once again found themselves in battle, this time at the nation's first and only homeless shelter for veterans.

Ben Colon and Earl Bettoe have been on a hunger strike since December 10 to protest the intolerable conditions at the Borden Avenue shelter in Long Island City, New York, where they stay. They are backed up by a 10-person leadership group and many of the 400 vets who live in the Salvation Army-run shelter.

They are protesting the "arrogant, dictatorial, unresponsive and inhumane treatment of the homeless veteran population. This important situation must be brought to the public's attention immediately to employ the tools of democracy—the very ideals we served to defend and protect." The veterans have presented a list of nine demands (including employment, medical care and permanent housing) to the shelter administrators.