Jason Dearen / Associated Press & BBC – 2007-10-27 22:09:16
http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20071027/4722b7c0_3ca6_1552620071027935108666
Thousands Call for Swift End to Iraq War
Jason Dearen / Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (October 27, 2007) — Thousands of people called for a swift end to the war in Iraq as they marched through downtown on Saturday, chanting and carrying signs that read: “Wall Street Gets Rich, Iraqis and GIs Die” or “Drop Tuition Not Bombs.”
The streets were filled with thousands as labor union members, anti-war activists, clergy and others rallied near City Hall before marching to Dolores Park.
As part of the demonstration, protesters fell on Market Street as part of a “die in” to commemorate the thousands of American soldiers and Iraqi citizens who have died since the conflict began in March 2003.
The protest was the largest in a series of war protests taking place in New York, Los Angeles and other U.S. cities, organizers said.
No official head count was available. Organizers of the event estimated about 30,000 people participated in San Francisco. It appeared that more than 10,000 people attended the march.
“I got the sense that many people were at a demonstration for the first time,” said Sarah Sloan, one of the event’s organizers. “That’s something that’s really changed. People have realized the right thing to do is to take to the streets.”
In the shadow of the National Constitution Center and Independence Hall in Philadelphia, a few hundred protesters ranging from grade school-aged children to senior citizens called on President Bush to end funding for the war and bring troops home.
Marchers who braved severe wet weather during the walk of more than 30 blocks were met by people lining the sidewalks and clutching a long yellow ribbon over the final blocks before Independence Mall. There, the rally opened with songs and prayers by descendants of Lenape Indians.
“Our signs are limp from the rain and the ground is soggy, but out spirits are high,” said Bal Pinguel, of the American Friends Service Committee, one of the national sponsors of the event. “The high price we are paying is the more than 3,800 troops who have been killed in the war in Iraq.”
Vince Robbins, 51, of Mount Holly, N.J., said there needed to be more rallies and more outrage.
“Where’s the outcry? Where’s the horror that almost 4,000 Americans have died in a foreign country that we invaded?” Robbins said. “I’m almost as angry at the American people as I am the president. I think Americans have become apathetic and placid about the whole thing.”
In New York, among the thousands marching down Broadway was a man carrying cardboard peace doves. Some others dressed as prisoners, wearing the bright orange garb of Guantanamo Bay inmates and pushing a person in a cage.
In Seattle, thousands of marchers were led by a small group of Iraq war veterans.
At Occidental Park, where the protesters rallied after the march, the American Friends Service Committee displayed scores of combat boots, one pair for each U.S. solider killed in Iraq.
Associated Press writer Bob Lentz in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
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Thousands in US Anti-war Protests
Tens of thousands of people have taken part in demonstrations against the war in Iraq in cities across the US.
Rallies took place in a dozen cities, with the biggest crowds gathering in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
They were timed to coincide with the fifth anniversary of a vote by the US Senate to authorise the Iraq invasion.
Those taking part, who included relatives of servicemen fighting in Iraq, urged the US congress to cut off funding for the war. The ‘national day of action’ was called by the United for Peace and Justice coalition.
Mike Carano, who organised a march in Ohio, told Reuters news agency: “This is across-the-country sentiment about ending the occupation, redirecting funds for needs in this country, our attempt to get Congress to stand up and have its prerogative to cut funding, to take charge.”
One of the national co-ordinators of the protests, Leslie Kielsen, told Reuters that the “half a trillion” dollars spent on the war was money that could have been used for education, social housing and to feed the hungry.
In New York participants gathered in Union Square, before marching on to Foley Square, which is close to many of the city’s largest courthouses and government offices. A two-minute silence was held to honour those killed in the violence which has blighted Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion.
An estimated 10,000 people joined a march in Chicago and in San Francisco there was an even greater turnout.
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Posted in accordance with Title 17, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
