Peace activist, Jesuit priest Daniel Berrigan dies at 94

A peace activist, Berrigan was once imprisoned for burning draft files in a protest against the Vietnam war.

May 01, 2016 10:39 am | Updated 10:39 am IST - New York

Daniel Berrigan, the Roman Catholic priest and Vietnam war protester, has died. He was 94.

Michael Benigno, a spokesman for the Jesuits USA Northeast Province, says Berrigan died on Saturday at a Jesuit infirmary at Fordham University.

A peace activist, Berrigan was once imprisoned for burning draft files in a protest against the Vietnam war. He and his younger brother, the Rev. Phillip Berrigan, became leaders of the radical anti-war movement in the 1960s.

The brothers entered a draft board in Catonsville, Maryland, in May 1968 with other activists and removed records of young men about to be shipped to Vietnam. The group took the files outside and burned them.

The Catonsville Nine, as they came to be known, were convicted on federal charges.

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