Philadelphia — Actor Martin Sheen was the target of a demonstration Wednesday as he stopped in Philadelphia to pick up an award for his work on behalf of the civil rights of immigrants.
About 100 supporters of the family of slain city Police Officer Daniel Faulkner picketed outside the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel Wednesday night, where Sheen, a self-described "radical" Catholic, and the Rev. Daniel Berrigan, the famous antiwar priest Sheen called his "mentor," were given the SOLAS award by the Philadelphia Immigration Resource Center.
Martin Sheen
The demonstrators were protesting the attention being given to Sheen, who is among many national and international celebrities and politicians who have taken up the cause of the man convicted of killing Faulkner in 1981: former radio newsman and radical Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Abu-Jamal remains on death row in Pennsylvania, despite an international effort to get his conviction reversed.
Sheen said he was sorry that he had not had a chance to talk to the demonstrators. He said he thought he and they had more in common than they realized.
"I'm never bothered by demonstrators," said Sheen, who plays the president on the NBC television series "The West Wing." "I've been one myself."
The awards dinner was a fund-raising event for the Philadelphia Immigration Resource Center, which provides support for new immigrants.
The controversy over the award to Sheen appeared to have had a financial impact on the fund-raising. An official assisting the group said only 380 to 400 tickets to the $150-a-plate dinner had been sold by Wednesday night. That number was a considerable drop from the 600 tickets sold at last year's dinner, he said.
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