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Updated
October 14, 2007

 

Antiwar Protest Held in Washington

By Jerry Markon and Dion Haynes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 15, 2007; 5:40 PM

Thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Washington today, from near the White House to the Capitol, where they staged a "die-in" to demonstrate their fervent opposition to the war in Iraq.

Protesters and counter-protesters started to gather by 8:30 a.m. for the first major anti-war protest in Washington since January, which is expected to be followed by a week of civil disobedience in the area intended to shift the anti-war movement to a more confrontational phase.

Police said dozens of protesters had been arrested without incident after they climbed over a waist-high metal fence officers had erected at the base of the Capitol.

Cheered on by the crowd, more demonstrators were leaping over the fence every few minutes late this afternoon and were being taken into custody.

Like the last major anti-war march in January, when tens of thousands descended on the Mall, today's events come at a tense time in the fractious debate over the U.S. mission in Iraq.

Today's rally and march on the Capitol follows this week's congressional testimony by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and President Bush's speech to the nation on Thursday.

The president ordered the first limited troop withdrawals since voters elected an antiwar Congress last year, but Democratic leaders immediately criticized his plan.

The event today is organized by the ANSWER Coalition, which stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. It formally began at noon at Lafayette Park, on the north side of the White House, with speeches from at least two dozen speakers ranging from former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and Ralph Nader to Washington Wizards player Etan Thomas and Michael Berg, whose son Nicolas was a contractor killed in Iraq.

"The majority of the people in this country and in Iraq are working people, and working people want this war to end,'' Fred Mason, president of the Maryland and District AFL-CIO, told the crowd amid chants of "Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation."

Mason said war opponents had been optimistic that Democrats "would have the guts and backbone to end this war" when they took control of Congress this year, but "that has not been the case."

As of 2:47 p.m., protesters were at 7th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue on their way to the Capitol, said D. C. Police Commander Patrick Burke. The "die-in" at the Capitol was expected to feature the playing of taps and a mock 21-gun salute.

Earlier, in Lafayette Park, hundreds of protesters walked around with signs that said the country should "drop Bush, not bombs" and declaring the president guilty of war crimes. They also listened to songs such as "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" and Edwin Starr's classic antiwar song "War."

Juan Torres Sr., 52, of Chicago, held a poster with a photo of his son, Juan Torres Jr. in his Army uniform. Torres said his 25-year-old old son died while serving in the war in 2004. Military officials, he said, told him his son committed suicide by shooting himself, but Torres doesn't believe it.

He said he opposes the war because "I don't want to see other families like mine" lose a child.

The demonstrators were immediately confronted by several hundred counter-protesters, who came to the Mall to demand that politicians see the war through to victory. At a large stage on the Mall at 7th Street, speakers said they did not want to abandon the Iraqi people, as they said America had done in ending the Vietnam war, and that they wanted soldiers to be shown respect when they returned from Iraq.

Anti war protesters who approached the fringes of the counterdemonstration on the Mall were quickly chased off. One man in a tie dye t-shirt was surrounded by several screaming counterdemonstrators who called him a traitor. He replied, "Is this what we've come to," before being escorted away by police.

Organizers said at least 1,000 people had registered for the "die-in" at the Capitol. Most people registered online earlier in the week, but others did today at the site of the rally.

Those who registered were given a four-page handout instructing them to be "willing to risk arrest.'' In case they are arrested, the handout said, protesters should bring their medication and make sure they have eaten.

"You should eat prior to risking arrest,'' the handout said. "It may be several hours before you have access to food.''

Two counterprotest groups, the Gathering of Eagles, made up of Vietnam veterans, and the D.C. chapter of the conservative group Free Republic, led today's counterdemonstrations.

At the U.S. Navy Memorial, members of the Gathering of Eagles set up a command post in anticipation of counter protesters who planned to line Pennsylvania Avenue near 7th St. NW. Organizers said they plan to counter antiwar protestor's chants but had no plans for civil disobedience.

"It will be a lot of bull horns, a lot of 'singing God Bless America', " said Betty Kilbride, 48, of Arlington, a writer who described herself as supporting the troops. Deborah King-Lile, 55, of St. Augustine, Fla. said the Gathering of Eagles prided themselves on not being arrested at protests. "We just want a chance to show America we don't agree with the vocal minority."

Staff writers Alison Klein, Nelson Hernandez, Katherine Shaver and Michelle Boorstein contributed to this report.

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