Anti-war protesters rally around world (AP) Updated: 2006-03-19 09:00
Thousands of anti-war protesters took to the streets around the world
Saturday, marking the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq with
demands that coalition troops leave immediately.
Wael Musfar of the Arab Muslim American Federation addressed more than 1,000
people who gathered in Times Square near a recruiting station, which was guarded
by police.
"We say enough hypocrisy, enough lies, our soldiers must come home now,"
Musfar said from a parked flatbed truck. Participants chanted, "Stop the U.S.
war machine, from Iraq to Korea to the Philippines."
Many attendees emphasized that they support the troops. "I have friends in
Iraq and I just want them to know that I may not be able to support them there,
but I can here," said Jose Avila, 36.
Protests also were held in Australia, Asia and Europe, but many events were
far smaller than organizers had hoped. In London, police said 15,000 people
joined a march from Parliament and Big Ben to a rally in Trafalgar Square. The
anniversary last year attracted 45,000 protesters in the city.
"We are against this war, both for religious reasons and on a humanitarian
basis, too," said Imran Saghir, 25, a Muslim student who attended the London
rally.
Britain, the United States' strongest supporter in the Iraq war, has about
8,000 troops in Iraq but plans to pull out 800 of them by May. The British
military has reported 103 deaths there. More than 2,300 American troops have
died.
In Washington, a protester wearing a President Bush mask and bearing fake
blood on his hands waved to passing automobiles outside Vice President Dick
Cheney's residence, where about 200 people demonstrated against the war.
Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler of the Plymouth Congregational United Church of
Christ said the rallies nationwide are a "tapestry of resistance."
"Most people believe we aren't crazy anymore," he said.
In Concord, N.H., nearly 300 peace activists marched about a mile from a
National Guard armory to the Statehouse.
"I feel a huge sense of betrayal that I went and risked my life for a lie,"
said Joseph Turcott, 26, a former Marine who served in the invasion.
At Dudley Square in Boston, a few hundred college-age protesters and baby
boomers waved placards that read "Impeach Bush" and "Stop the War."
"It seems like we are fighting a King George in the same way General
Washington fought a King George, who was equally imperialistic," said Askia
Toure, a poet and activist.
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