Modest Rally Reflects Global Cause
Protests Scattered From District to Denmark on War’s 3rd Anniversary
By Carol Morello, Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 19, 2006; C03
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/18/AR2006031801180_pf.html
Antiwar
protesters marched from the gates of Vice President Cheney’s house on
Observatory Circle to Dupont Circle yesterday in one of numerous
demonstrations across the nation and the world marking the third
anniversary of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
In their frustration and
anger, protesters in Washington echoed participants at similar rallies
in Europe, Asia and Australia. Many carried placards or wore buttons
describing President Bush and his advisers as liars who had misled the
country into war, and called for his impeachment. As they walked down
Massachusetts Avenue NW to honks and thumbs-up from passing motorists,
protesters chanted demands that troop withdrawal begin immediately.
About
250 people took part in the march sponsored by more than 15 local
antiwar groups — short of the 500 to 5,000 people they expected.
Organizers said that they were not disappointed and that there was more
impact in many local demonstrations than in one large event.
“This
is a decentralized effort that is happening all across the United
States and internationally,” said Mo Alem of D.C. Resistance Media
Collective, one of the sponsors. “Today, there are hundreds of
thousands of people in the streets all over the place.”
In other
cities, turnout also was lower than planners had hoped. In London, for
example, organizers expected 100,000 people; police estimated that the
march from Parliament to Trafalgar Square drew 15,000.
The
antiwar protesters often converged at symbolic locations. In New York’s
Times Square, they rallied outside a military recruiting station. In
Concord, N.H., they marched from a National Guard Armory to the State
House.
Overseas, embassies were the location of choice.
In
Copenhagen, about 2,000 people marched from the U.S. Embassy to the
British Embassy, demanding that the Danish government withdraw its 530
troops in Iraq. In Stockholm, about 1,000 people marched to the U.S.
Embassy, including one dressed in a hood like a captive at Abu Ghraib
prison. Antiwar activists congregated in Vienna and Rome, Athens and
Istanbul, Sydney and Tokyo. More protests are expected today in South
Korea and Malaysia.
Britain’s defense secretary encouraged people
to condemn terrorism instead of the war. Britain plans to withdraw 800
of its 8,000 troops in Iraq by May.
“When people go on the
streets of London today, I do wish just occasionally they would go out
in support of the United Nations, the Iraqi people and the Iraqi
democrats and condemn terrorists,” John Reid told the British
Broadcasting Corp.
Despite his entreaties, some protesters
carried photographs of Bush declaring him the “world’s No. 1
terrorist.” Others carried placards of British Prime Minister Tony
Blair and shouted, “Blair must go!”
Such expressions were also
prevalent in Washington. A man wearing a rubber Bush mask had red paint
smeared on his hands to resemble blood and wore a T-shirt calling Bush
an “international terrorist.”
“The world can’t wait to drive out
this regime of war criminals, torturers, massive spiers and religious
fanatics who are rapidly working to reorganize society in a fascist way
for generations to come,” said Travis Morales, 53, an organizer with
the group World Can’t Wait.
Many protesters said they have been
opposed to the war since its inception. They recalled being considered
kooks on the fringe three years ago; now, polls show many Americans
oppose the war.
“The American public wasn’t with us when we
started,” said the Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler, pastor of the Plymouth
Congregational United Church of Christ in Northeast Washington. “As the
lies have been exposed, the American public has moved to the point we
started with. Most people believe we aren’t crazy anymore.”
To
counter the antiwar protesters, two people from a pro-administration
group called Protest Patriots stood across the street from the rally at
the vice president’s house. One held a sign saying “Thank God for
George Bush.” Another listed good things from the Iraq invasion, like
ousting a dictator.
Bob Miller, 55, of Richmond, shrugged off the protesters’ chants.
“They’re straight out of the ’60s,” he said. “It was wrong then, and it’s wrong now.”
Wire services and staff writers Jacqueline L. Salmon and Petula Dvorak contributed to this report.