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Global protests rally against Iraq war
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-03-21 10:11 Hundreds of thousands of people around the world
rallied against the U.S. presence in Iraq on the first anniversary of the
war Saturday, in protests that retained the anger, if not the size, of
demonstrations held before the invasion began.
Protesters filled more than a dozen police-lined blocks in Manhattan, calling
on U.S. President Bush to bring home U.S. troops serving in Iraq. New
York Mayor Michael Bloomberg estimated the crowd at about 30,000, but
organizers said later that number had grown to more than 100,000.
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| Thousands of people march in New York,
Saturday, March 20, 2004, marking the first anniversary of the U.S.-led
war on Iraq by calling for the removal of American troops from the
Middle East country. [AP] | "It is time to
bring our children home and declare this war was unnecessary," said the Rev.
Herbert Daughtry, a New York activist addressing a rally in Manhattan.
The roughly 250 anti-war protests scheduled around the country by United for
Peace and Justice ranged from solemn to brash.
In Montpelier, Vt., hundreds of silent protesters placed a pair of shoes on
the Statehouse steps for each of the more than 560 U.S. soldiers killed in the
war. In Los Angeles, one of thousands of protesters held photographs of Bush and
Vice President Dick Cheney with the words, "forget Janet Jackson's — expose
the real boobs."
More than 300 people rallied in Stevens Point, Wis., including the 5-year-old
son of Sgt. Mark McClure, a Wisconsin National Guard soldier who has been
stationed in the Middle East for 11 months.
Michael McClure made his own, slightly misspelled protest sign: "Let Dady
Come Home."
Around the world, hundreds of thousands raised their voices in rallies from
Spain to Egypt to the Philippines.
Organizers estimated up to 2 million people demonstrated in Rome, and 100,000
in London, but police in those cities gave estimates of 250,000 and 25,000,
respectively.
Anti-war activists jammed the streets of central Rome, many of them decked
out in rainbow-colored peace flags and chanting "assassins." Protesters demanded
that the Italian government, a strong supporter of the war, withdraw its 2,600
troops from Iraq.
About 150,000 demonstrated in Barcelona, Spain. No crowd estimate was
immediately available for Madrid, but the numbers paled in comparison to the
millions that packed streets all over Spain after the Madrid train bombings that
killed 202 people March 11.
The rallies coincided with the anniversary of the first bombings in Baghdad
last year. Although President Bush ordered the attacks on March 19, the time
difference made it March 20 in Iraq.
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| Around 3,000 protesters demonstrate against
the occupation of Iraq and Palestine in Switzerland's capital Bern,
Saturday March 20, 2004. Worldwide protests have been staged on the first
anniversary of the war with Iraq.
[AP] | While turnout was high in some nations,
most protests were far smaller than the enormous demonstrations held around the
world shortly before the war began.
A New York protest a year ago drew more than 125,000 by official estimates.
Although that's similar to organizers' estimate Saturday, organizers last year
estimated that crowd at more than 250,000.
Last year's rally produced several clashes between demonstrators and police,
but New York police reported just four arrests on disorderly conduct charges
Saturday. There were scattered arrests in other U.S. cities as well.
New York police in riot gear walked calmly past barricades marking off the
demonstration area on Madison Avenue as speakers mounted a stage to address the
crowd on a sunny afternoon. Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly stopped
by the rally, but didn't speak to demonstrators or participate.
In President Bush's hometown of Crawford, about 800 peace activists from
across Texas marched, chanting, "One, two, three, four, kick the liar out the
door." Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader spoke to the crowd and
called for Bush's impeachment.
The march kept John Taylor, an Air Force veteran who lives in Crawford,
waiting at an intersection. He propped his cowboy hat above the steering wheel
of his Ford pickup to block his view of the protesters, some holding up effigies
of Bush.
"If they'd leave, it would be nice," said Taylor, 28.
Thousands of protesters marched through Chicago's downtown shopping district.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson urged the crowd to express their opposition to the war by
voting against Bush.
"It's time to fight back," Jackson said. "Remember in November."
In Cincinnati, Claire Mugavin wore a biohazard suit to a protest that drew
several hundred people. She pretended to look for weapons of mass destruction
beneath benches and garbage cans.
"We figure they're not in Iraq," said the 24-year-old Cincinnati resident.
"So we figured we'd come look for them in Fountain Square."
In San Francisco, thousands of taiko drummers, cyclists, activists and other
protesters chanted "End the occupation" and "Impeach Bush."
Thousands of people also turned out in Denver and Seattle, and demonstrations
drew several hundred people in Atlanta, Albuquerque, N.M., and Augusta, Maine.
Many of the demonstrations were accompanied by smaller gatherings of Bush
supporters. Iraqi-American Kaise Urfali, 46, was among 10 people gathered at the
Atlanta rally to oppose the protesters.
"These people have no clue, they have no idea about the meaning of terrorism
and the meaning of freedom," said Urfali, who said his family has lived in exile
from Iraq since 1958. "These protesters talk in the name of Iraq and none of
them are from Iraq, none of them lived in the terror."
Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and other European countries also saw
protests, while demonstrations took place earlier in Japan, Australia and India.
About 500 protesters clashed with police outside the U.S. Embassy in the
Philippines capital, Manila. No injuries were reported.
Demonstrators in Cairo — vastly outnumbered by riot police — burned an
American flag. Hundreds of people gathered in other Middle Eastern capitals to
denounce the war.
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