Major Protests Mark Iraq War
Anniversary
By VERENA DOBNIK
NEW YORK (AP - 21
March) - Hundreds of thousands of people around the world
rallied against the U.S. presence in Iraq on the first anniversary
of the war Saturday, in protests that retained the anger, if not
the size, of demonstrations held before the invasion began.
Protesters filled more
than a dozen police-lined blocks in
Manhattan, calling on President Bush to bring home U.S. troops
serving in Iraq. Mayor Michael Bloomberg estimated the crowd at
about 30,000, but organizers said later that number had grown to
more than 100,000.
``It is time to bring
our children home and declare this war was
unnecessary,'' said the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, a New York activist
addressing a rally in Manhattan.
The roughly 250
anti-war protests scheduled around the country
by United for Peace and Justice ranged from solemn to brash.
In
Montpelier, Vt.,
hundreds of silent protesters placed a pair
of shoes on the Statehouse steps for each of the more than 560 U.S.
soldiers killed in the war. In Los Angeles, one of thousands of
protesters held photographs of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney
with the words, ``forget Janet Jackson's - expose the real boobs.''
More
than 300 people
rallied in Stevens Point, Wis., including
the 5-year-old son of Sgt. Mark McClure, a Wisconsin National Guard
soldier who has been stationed in the Middle East for 11 months.
Michael
McClure made
his own, slightly misspelled protest sign:
``Let Dady Come Home.''
Around
the world,
hundreds of thousands raised their voices in
rallies from Spain to Egypt to the Philippines.
Organizers
estimated
up to 2 million people demonstrated in
Rome, and 100,000 in London, but police in those cities gave
estimates of 250,000 and 25,000, respectively.
Anti-war
activists
jammed the streets of central Rome, many of
them decked out in rainbow-colored peace flags and chanting
``assassins.'' Protesters demanded that the Italian government, a
strong supporter of the war, withdraw its 2,600 troops from Iraq.
About
150,000
demonstrated in Barcelona, Spain. No crowd
estimate was immediately available for Madrid, but the numbers
paled in comparison to the millions that packed streets all over
Spain after the Madrid train bombings that killed 202 people March
11.
The
rallies coincided
with the anniversary of the first bombings
in Baghdad last year. Although President Bush ordered the attacks
on March 19, the time difference made it March 20 in Iraq.
While
turnout was high
in some nations, most protests were far
smaller than the enormous demonstrations held around the world
shortly before the war began.
A
New York protest a
year ago drew more than 125,000 by official
estimates. Although that's similar to organizers' estimate
Saturday, organizers last year estimated that crowd at more than
250,000.
Last
year's rally
produced several clashes between demonstrators
and police, but New York police reported just four arrests on
disorderly conduct charges Saturday. There were scattered arrests
in other U.S. cities as well.
New
York police in
riot gear walked calmly past barricades
marking off the demonstration area on Madison Avenue as speakers
mounted a stage to address the crowd on a sunny afternoon.
Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly stopped by the rally,
but didn't speak to demonstrators or participate.
In
President Bush's
hometown of Crawford, about 800 peace
activists from across Texas marched, chanting, ``One, two, three,
four, kick the liar out the door.'' Independent presidential
candidate Ralph Nader spoke to the crowd and called for Bush's
impeachment.
The
march kept John
Taylor, an Air Force veteran who lives in
Crawford, waiting at an intersection. He propped his cowboy hat
above the steering wheel of his Ford pickup to block his view of
the protesters, some holding up effigies of Bush.
``If
they'd leave, it
would be nice,'' said Taylor, 28.
Thousands
of
protesters marched through Chicago's downtown
shopping district. The Rev. Jesse Jackson urged the crowd to
express their opposition to the war by voting against Bush.
``It's
time to fight
back,'' Jackson said. ``Remember in
November.''
In
Cincinnati, Claire
Mugavin wore a biohazard suit to a protest
that drew several hundred people. She pretended to look for weapons
of mass destruction beneath benches and garbage cans.
``We
figure they're
not in Iraq,'' said the 24-year-old
Cincinnati resident. ``So we figured we'd come look for them in
Fountain Square.''
In
San Francisco,
thousands of taiko drummers, cyclists,
activists and other protesters chanted ``End the occupation'' and
``Impeach Bush.''
Thousands
of people
also turned out in Denver and Seattle, and
demonstrations drew several hundred people in Atlanta, Albuquerque,
N.M., and Augusta, Maine.
Many
of the
demonstrations were accompanied by smaller
gatherings of Bush supporters. Iraqi-American Kaise Urfali, 46, was
among 10 people gathered at the Atlanta rally to oppose the
protesters.
``These
people have no
clue, they have no idea about the meaning
of terrorism and the meaning of freedom,'' said Urfali, who said
his family has lived in exile from Iraq since 1958. ``These
protesters talk in the name of Iraq and none of them are from Iraq,
none of them lived in the terror.''
Germany,
Greece, the
Netherlands and other European countries
also saw protests, while demonstrations took place earlier in
Japan, Australia and India. About 500 protesters clashed with
police outside the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines capital, Manila.
No injuries were reported.
Demonstrators
in Cairo
- vastly outnumbered by riot police -
burned an American flag. Hundreds of people gathered in other
Middle Eastern capitals to denounce the war.
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