[Reader-list] anti-war protests in the US

[Avishek Ganguly]

Hi
here's some stuff on the anti-war activity in the US
today...may be even sharing them with you all might be
a vent for the desperate feeling of outrage and
helplessness...but this is still only CNN (forget Fox
News!)-- so that explains the possibly fudged anti-war
figures and the carelessly strewn bits about how there
have been an equal number of pro-war rallies too!

peace
Avishek
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Protests swell in wake of war
Largest anti-war activity in San Francisco

(AP) --Galvanized by the American attack on Iraq,
anti-war activists around the country set off their
own barrage of street protests, chaining themselves
together, blocking workers and traffic, walking out of
classes, and parading in mock chemical suits. Hundreds
were arrested from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.

But the anti-war groundswell brought out thousands of
counterdemonstrators. One in Mississippi carried a
sign saying, "Support the U.S. or keep your mouth
shut."

Thursday was one of the heaviest days of
anti-government protesting in years.

"This is no ordinary day," said Jason Mark, a San
Francisco activist. "America is different today: We've
just launched an unprovoked, unjust war."

One protester in a rope and harness committed suicide
by letting himself fall from Golden Gate Bridge as
police tried to coax him to safety.

San Francisco had some of the largest anti-war
activity, hobbling the morning commute. Thousands in
roving bands temporarily took control of some downtown
streets and closed several exits from the San
Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Smaller splinter groups
broke windows, heaved debris into streets and
occasionally scuffled with police. Some protesters
hurled rocks at trains, briefly halting service at a
station in nearby Oakland.

Police wearing helmets and carrying nightsticks made
at least 350 arrests.

"We don't want to alienate people. I hope people
realize that political murder merits action that
inconveniences them," said protester Quinn Miller, who
took the day off from his job for a banking company.

'No blood for oil'
In Washington, dozens of activists temporarily shut
down inbound lanes of a Potomac River crossing,
holding up the morning commute. Outside the White
House, about 50 stood in chilly rain and shouted, "No
blood for oil!"

Anti-war activists in Philadelphia blocked entrances
to the downtown federal building, forcing police to
detour motorists away from the area. Police arrested
107 protesters.

In New York, about 350 rallied at Union Square under a
steady drizzle.

About a dozen students lay down in black garbage bags.
"We're expressing how the Iraqis are being killed for
no reason," said Rachel Klepner, 14, who left class at
Beacon High School for the protest.

In Massachusetts, students and professors walked out
of college classes around the state in protest of war.
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in
Cambridge, about 600 students converged on the student
center, some chanting and wearing mock biochemical
protective suits.

In Austin, several hundred University of Texas
students linked arms and sat down in a busy street.
Police closed the area to traffic.

Other demonstrations were more solemn, with the
reciting of Christian, Jewish and Muslim prayers
through a bullhorn at a federal building in
Pittsburgh.

A number of demonstrations reflected backing for the
war effort or support for U.S. troops.

Some 2,000 people gathered outside the state Capitol
Thursday in Mississippi, a state that has seen 4,500
guardsmen and reservists activated during the buildup
to war and where many families also have relatives in
the military full time.

Marlena Puckett, who is engaged to a Marine in the war
zone, fought back tears as she watched people waving
American flags and carrying handmade signs with
slogans like "God bless our troops" and "Let's roll."

"I'm proud of him. I'm just ready for him to be home,"
Puckett said of her fiance, Danny Myers.

One sign in the Jackson crowd said "Thank God for
Bush" on one side and "Support the U.S. or keep your
mouth shut" on the other. After the rally, hundreds of
people signed a banner to be sent to troops.

In Lincoln, Nebraska, more than 200 people sang,
cheered and prayed outside the state Capitol.

Sheila Murphy, who works with families who have
members in the Nebraska Air National Guard, said,
"This is a time they need to know that everyone is
behind the troops and supporting the troops."

On the edge of a protest at Brown University in
Providence, Rhode Island, a young man stood in a
T-shirt that read "I am threatened by Iraq" in front
and "Regime change now" in back.

An anti-war group, West Virginia Patriots for Peace,
placed candles and flowers outside a federal
courthouse in Charleston. Members said they wanted
both to protest the war and support U.S. troops.

"We don't want our men and women over there to feel
like they did in Vietnam," said Barbara Ferraro.

Abroad, hundreds of thousands of protesters marched
Thursday on American embassies in Athens, Paris,
Manila in the Philippines, and other cities. In Cairo,
police sprayed soapy water and used dogs to keep back
thousands of protesters, including some who threw
rocks and pounded on cars.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 

  
 
  
 

  
Find this article at: 
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/20/sprj.irq.war.protests.ap/index.html
 


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