Protests against war on Iraq span oceans, cultures

WASHINGTON -- Thousands of protesters from across the country marched from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to the White House on Saturday to oppose a U.S. attack on Iraq.

The protest coincided with antiwar demonstrations from Augusta, Maine, to San Francisco and abroad from Rome and Berlin to Tokyo and Mexico City. In Washington and many of the other demonstrations, protesters added complaints about U.S. policy toward the Palestinians.

Protest organizers claimed up to 200,000 marchers made their way up Constitution Avenue to challenge President Bush's determination to force out Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Because the U.S. Park Police no longer issues crowd estimates, the size of the crowd could not be verified.

Despite polls that show strong public support for an attack, demonstrators contend that the Bush administration hasn't proven the need for a pre-emptive strike.

"This is old, young, black, white, Christians, Jews, Muslims. This is the real America and we're finally being heard," said 26-year-old Simone X of New York City, who toted a sign stating "War is not an option."

Speakers included actor Susan Sarandon and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who said talk of an attack was designed to divert attention from the economy.

"In two years we've gone from surplus to deficits. We've lost 3-million jobs, $8-trillion in stock market value. Unemployment's up, poverty's up. It seems the issue is not imminent threat, but imminent politics," Jackson said.

Iraqi-born Karim Yatooma of Detroit came to the rally along with members of the American-Iraqi Friendship Federation.

Yatooma, 68, an American citizen, said an attack on Iraq would hurt innocents. Yatooma had tough questions for Bush.

"Why do you want to destroy 21-million innocent people?" he said. "Hussein is one person. What are you going to tell the world when the bombs hit and the news cameras show the leg of a child over here or the hand of an innocent woman over there? What will you tell the world, Mr. Bush?"

On a nearby street corner, a handful of Iraqi-Americans staged a counterdemonstration. Aziz al-Taee, spokesman for the Iraqi-American Council, said, "I think America is doing just fine. ... We think every day Saddam stays in power, he kills more Iraqis."

New Englanders ventured out in snow, sleet and rain to join demonstrations in Maine and Vermont. A couple thousand showed up at the Colorado capitol in downtown Denver and demonstrators marched at San Francisco.

More than 2,000 chanting, drum-beating protesters marched on a home owned by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld near Taos, N.M., waving placards that read, "Rumsfeld is a War Criminal" and "Teachers Against War."

The thousands who gathered in cities across Europe, Asia and beyond also displayed vocal opposition to the U.S. policy toward Iraq and demanded reversal of Bush's Iraq policies.

In Berlin, an estimated 8,000 people, brandishing placards that declared "War on the imperialist war," converged on the downtown Alexanderplatz and marched past the German Foreign Ministry. Another 1,500 showed up in Frankfurt, 500 in Hamburg.

Another 1,500 rain-soaked demonstrators gathered under umbrellas outside the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark. More than 1,000 marched in Stockholm, Sweden.

-- Information from the Associated Press and Knight Ridder Newspapers was used in this report.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright