Chicago Tribune: Anti-Bush protesters hold Loop march

“World Can’t Wait” earlier predicted 10,000 to 15,000 people would
participate. At a similar rally held by the group in November, some
3,000 to 4,000 protesters marched.

As it was, today’s march turned out to be much shorter than originally
planned, after organizers were rebuffed in their efforts to extend
their parade route throughout downtown Chicago.

A federal magistrate judge this morning denied the group’s request for
a temporary restraining order against the city, ruling their march
would be restricted to a 3½-block route from the park to Federal Plaza
in the Loop.

People started gathering shortly before noon in Grant Park at Jackson
Boulevard and Columbus Drive. A podium was set up in the park, and
speakers including actors, poets and political activists addressed the
crowd on subjects ranging from torture of suspected terror suspects to
the Bush administration’s policies in Iraq.

Tribal drummers performed, participants carried protest signs reading
“Out of Iraq” and “No War in Iran,” and one man wore a mask of Bush and
devil horns and a cape.

The event’s emcee, a woman calling herself “Mars that revolutionary
sister,” told the crowd, “The future is counting on you today, this
history-making day.” She then read a poem critical of the Bush
administration, touching on subjects ranging from poverty to Hurricane
Katrina and the war in Iraq.

Rev. Bob Bossie, a member of Priests of the Sacred Heart who works at a
social justice center in Chicago, said, “This is the culmination point
of the last six years – of the immoral war, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and
spying. It is the violation of everything I ever thought the United
States meant.”

As for exactly how the participants intended to “Drive Out the Bush
Regime,” Bossie and others each seemed to have a different idea.

Impeachment is too slow, he said, adding that the process needs to be
something like what happened in Bolivia, “where people took to the
street and forced the president to resign.”

“Impeach them all and try them for war crimes,” said Janet Melton of
Chalmers, Ind., who wore a shirt stating, “I support Iraq veterans
against the war” and held a sign saying, “No More Blood for Oil.”

Referring to her 22-year-old daughter, who served in Iraq with the Army
in 2004, Melton said, “When you find out she could have been killed on
a pack of lies, it makes it so much worse.”

Two weeks ago, Chicago members of “World Can’t Wait” applied for a city
permit to march 2 miles through downtown and up the northbound lanes of
North Michigan Avenue. But the city agreed to let the protesters march
only directly up Jackson Boulevard from the park to Federal Plaza.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan today did not reject or accept the
claims of the group that the city dealt in bad faith in assigning it a
shorter route.

But Nolan said the request for a restraining order came too late. It
would be unfeasible at the 11th hour to reroute CTA buses and make
alternate plans for emergency vehicles, she ruled.

The group agreed to schedule its march for 2 p.m. to allow time for
vendors who work in Federal Plaza, located at Jackson Boulevard and
Dearborn Street, to close their booths. The march took place
uneventfully, with protesters parading between two rows of city police,
Cook County Sheriff’s police and Illinois State Police.

By 3 p.m., everyone was at Federal Plaza, and a round of speeches began again.

Police urged people who must travel downtown this afternoon to expect delays and to use public transportation if possible.

Tribune staff reporter Rudolph Bush contributed to this story.