More Than 1,500 Arrested in U.S. as Anti-War Protests Flare

[Michael Bluth]

Galvanized by the American attack on Iraq, thousands of anti-war activists around the country set off their own barrage of street protests, chaining themselves together, blocking workers and traffic, walking out of classes, and parading in mock chemical suits.

More than 1,500 people were arrested from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. But the anti-war groundswell brought out thousands of counterdemonstrators. One in Mississippi carried a sign saying, "Support the U.S. or keep your mouth shut."

Thursday was one of the heaviest days of anti-government protesting in years.

"This is no ordinary day," said Jason Mark, a San Francisco activist. "America is different today: We've just launched an unprovoked, unjust war."

One protester died after tumbling from the Golden Gate Bridge. Authorities were investigating the death as a possible suicide.

San Francisco had some of the largest anti-war activity, hobbling the morning and evening commutes. Thousands in roving bands temporarily took control of some downtown streets and closed several exits from the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Police wearing helmets and carrying nightsticks arrested more than 1,300 people by early evening. About 1,000 protesters remained on downtown streets late Thursday, vowing to shut down the city again Friday.

Smaller splinter groups broke windows, heaved debris into streets and occasionally scuffled with police. Some protesters hurled rocks at trains, briefly halting service at a station in nearby Oakland.

"We went from what I would call legal protests to absolute anarchy," Assistant Police Chief Alex Fagan Sr. said.

"We don't want to alienate people. I hope people realize that political murder merits action that inconveniences them," said protester Quinn Miller, who took the day off from his job for a banking company.

About 1,000 anti-war protesters demonstrated outside the West Los Angeles Federal Building, briefly clashing with police, burning an American flag and forcing the closure of one of the city's busiest intersections at rush hour. At least 14 were arrested.

Protesters in Portland, Ore., smashed in three windows at a McDonald's restaurant, while another sprayed graffiti on a sign at a Shell gas station. About 35 people were arrested.

Several thousand marchers snarled afternoon rush-hour traffic along Chicago's main arteries, repeatedly breaking through lines of police on horseback or in riot gear.

"I supported the first Gulf War. I think this is going to send a message," demonstrator Bill Quigley said. "I think a broad-based protest against the war is the way to go."

In Washington, dozens of activists temporarily shut down inbound lanes of a Potomac River crossing, holding up the morning commute. Outside the White House, about 50 stood in chilly rain and shouted, "No blood for oil!"

Anti-war activists in Philadelphia blocked entrances to the downtown federal building, forcing police to detour motorists away from the area. Police arrested 107 protesters.

In New York, about 350 rallied at Union Square under a steady drizzle.

About a dozen students lay down in black garbage bags. "We're expressing how the Iraqis are being killed for no reason," said Rachel Klepner, 14, who left class at Beacon High School for the protest.

In Massachusetts, students and professors walked out of college classes around the state in protest of war. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, about 600 students converged on the student center, some chanting and wearing mock biochemical protective suits.

In Austin, several hundred University of Texas students linked arms and sat down in a busy street. Police closed the area to traffic.

Other demonstrations were more solemn, with the reciting of Christian, Jewish and Muslim prayers through a bullhorn at a federal building in Pittsburgh.

A number of demonstrations reflected backing for the war effort or support for U.S. troops.

Some 2,000 people gathered outside the state Capitol in Mississippi, a state that has seen 4,500 guardsmen and reservists activated during the buildup to war and where many families also have relatives in the military full time.

Marlena Puckett, who is engaged to a Marine in the war zone, fought back tears as she watched people waving American flags and carrying handmade signs with slogans like "God bless our troops" and "Let's roll."

"I'm proud of him. I'm just ready for him to be home," Puckett said of her fiance, Danny Myers.

One sign in the Jackson crowd said "Thank God for Bush" on one side and "Support the U.S. or keep your mouth shut" on the other. After the rally, hundreds of people signed a banner to be sent to troops.

In Lincoln, Neb., more than 200 people sang, cheered and prayed outside the state Capitol.

Sheila Murphy, who works with families who have members in the Nebraska Air National Guard, said, "This is a time they need to know that everyone is behind the troops and supporting the troops."

On the edge of a protest at Brown University in Providence, R.I., a young man stood in a T-shirt that read "I am threatened by Iraq" in front and "Regime change now" in back.

An anti-war group, West Virginia Patriots for Peace, placed candles and flowers outside a federal courthouse in Charleston. Members said they wanted both to protest the war and support U.S. troops.

"We don't want our men and women over there to feel like they did in Vietnam," said Barbara Ferraro.

In Nashville, Tenn., Peter Fossel, a 57-year-old former Marine, wore a Purple Heart he won in the Vietnam War as he joined about 300 anti-war protesters outside a federal building.

"This America is not the America that I bled for," Fossel said. "This America is the aggressor, and this America is the type of nation that I risked my life to fight against."



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp..._us_rallies_18

[Bryan]

Craziness.

[Travis]

"We're expressing how the Iraqis are being killed for no reason," said Rachel Klepner, 14, who left class at Beacon High School for the protest.

She deserves to be shot for being such an idiot. Here is what she probably really went to the protest for:

"Well...if I go out and protest, I can walk around school the next day saying 'Yea, I walked out! This war is crap! Iraqi's aren't bad, neither is Saddam Hussein! I love him! He's never done anything wrong!' then Billy Liberal, the cutest football player in school, will be all like 'Duh, wanna date, ho?' and he'll finally be mine! Yay!"

Yep.

[Nigel]

She's 14 and she thinks she actually thinks she knows what's going on. All those people need to stop acting like idiots and go back to work or school.

[yamiyuuki]

Sounds like my science teacher..She and Advancemonkey had a huge debate in class one day, and he made her cry.

[Relient J]

I'm all about people excersising their right to peaceably assemble and protest, but if it becomes violent then it kind of invalidates their protest.

[Shmagoolski]

i have no problem with protest with protests...but ones that become violent just seem hypocritical

[Dark_Cloud]

yeah man there was a couple hundred people in portland doing shit like that. They all got carted off to jail though. I went down all dressed in black and with a ski mask on so that if there was a riot i could do some quick looting. But those dumbasses just blocked trafic and stuff they didnt even riot i was disapointed.

[advancemonkey]

Protesters are all stupid the majority of signs say things like ,"Bush is a " . Not all of them say that, some of them acctualy have the nerve to call the U.S. goverment a terrorist country. The rest have a ok point that, civilians will get hurt and it will cause more terrorists. I can deal with them without going mad.:realmad :realmad



But the Iraqi people are praising us[fox news]

[yamiyuuki]

People shouldn't proest violence, only to start riots...That's insanity..

[Dark_Cloud]

Originally posted by advancemonkey

But the Iraqi people are praising us[fox news]

dude, the news is only showing you the city in southern iraq where there was a rebelion in 1992 and sadam crushed it. He was so brutal, now they all hate him there. but oncee we get closer to baghdad then we will mett peole who dont want us there

[advancemonkey]

^^^ Suddam's army that surrendered is begging to praise us as well. I hope all the city's will praise u.s. troops. I know Suddam's hometown will not.