Group protests U.S. retaliation against terror

A group gathers in St. Petersburg, sometimes raising the ire of passing motorists.

[Times photo: Daniel Wallace] The debate was in the street Monday, as Sobukwe Bambaata, center, argued about air strikes in Afghnistan with a passer-by at Central Avenue and Fourth Street N in St. Petersburg. Holding the sign is Stephanie Midler.

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 9, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- The protesters held signs saying "Stop Attacks on Arab People" and chanted: "No more War. No more War."

"I detest what happened (Sept. 11), but there's an alternative to killing each other to resolve our differences," said Bill Carpenter, who spoke for the protesters calling themselves the Coalition for Peace and Social Justice.

But the presence of the group at Central Avenue and Fourth Street N in St. Petersburg at midday Monday was not welcome by all. Some drivers yelled "Boo" or "Get off the street" at the two to three dozen protesters who were spread out on the four corners of the busy intersection.

Others stopped to question the protesters and, several times, tempers flared.

Protester Sobukwe Bambaata got into a shouting match with a passer-by who wouldn't give his name and said that innocent people were killed in the terrorist attacks.

"Well, the U.S. kills innocent people all the time," shot back Bambaata, 27. "This isn't the first time innocent people got killed on Sept. 11."

"The U.S. needs to pull together right now," said Matthew Pickel, 36, another passer-by who was angry at the protesters. "They don't need this."

But the protesters also drew support. Some people held up their fingers in the peace sign. Others stopped to talk.

"I'm upset. I just don't believe in retaliation," said Sundine Spivey, 25, a passer-by who said she was in the U.S. Army Reserves and could get called up at any moment to serve. "What (Osama) bin Laden did was wrong, but I don't believe in all the bombing. It's horrible."

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