Washington – Tens of thousands packed the Ellipse south of the White House and spilled onto streets surrounding the presidential mansion Saturday in the largest anti-war rally since the start of the Iraq war.
Protesters jeered President Bush – some called for his impeachment – and a diverse- but-united crowd chanted “no more war” in a demonstration that participants hoped would further boost the growing anti- war movement.
“The war needs to end,” said Gary Handschumacher of Crawford, a longtime war opponent who was arrested in 1991 during a protest at an Army recruiting office in Denver. “Hopefully, this represents a surge of energy. The population needs to take its power and use it.”
Handschumacher was one of least 40 Coloradans who joined the burgeoning crowd that was peppered with protest banners. “Troops out now,” “No blood for oil” and “Shut the war down,” the handmade signs demanded.
The rally was repeated on a smaller scale in major cities around the world, including London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Florence, Rome, Paris and Madrid.
In Washington, the police reported no major incidents at the rally or the subsequent march, which organizers said drew 250,000 people.
Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier who became the face of the anti-war movement this summer, joined the rally. Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in an ambush in Sadr City, Iraq, last year, held a nearly month-long vigil outside Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.
“Not one person should have died; not one more person should die,” Sheehan shouted to the crowd Saturday, prompting chants of “not one more.” She called the Bush administration an “out-of-control, criminal government,” adding: “We mean business George Bush; shame on you.”
The Rev. Jesse Jackson urged the protesters to keep up their efforts. “It’s a long road, but keep marching,” the longtime civil rights leader said.
The Coloradans who flew to Washington for the rally said they’re doing their part to oppose the Iraq war.
“It’s important for every single state to be represented,” said Sue Mitrovic, 52, of Broomfield. “For every city and county to be represented because everyone is affected.
“It’s a long way to come, but then again, little by little, I’m losing my rights. This is a small investment in my future,” she said.
“We must loudly and persistently raise our voices,” added Dennis Apuan of Colorado Springs, who said that Bush may not be listening, but “it matters to me that I did something.”
As Apuan spoke, Bush was spending Saturday on the road, including briefings at the U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs, which is coordinating the military response to Hurricane Rita.
Bush’s absence didn’t bother Charles Cooper, 50, of Lyons.
“I don’t expect it to have any effect on the president,” Cooper said. Instead, the protest is “what one has to do,” he said. “People have to say, ‘Stop!’
“It might not stop after this action or even the next action, but we have to keep saying it,” Cooper said. “That’s why they call it movements, not moments.”
A few blocks away, at the U.S. Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue, about 100 people gathered for a counterdemonstration with a sign that read, “Honor their sacrifice – complete the mission.”
Mindy Grundy is a former resident of Wisconsin now living in Washington, D.C., whose husband, Tyler, is an Army soldier stationed at Fort Myer in Arlington, Va.
Grundy said she was there to show the troops they have support back home.
“I think it’s ridiculous over” at the anti-war protest, she said.
“We are trying to democratize a country and they want us to stop?” she said of U.S. efforts to bring democracy to Iraq.
