WASHINGTON, D.C. (U-WIRE) — More than 100,000 protesters flocked to the capital Saturday to voice loud, peaceful objections to a possible war in Iraq, which many contended is linked to U.S. oil interests. Organizers said it was the largest rally in Washington since the Vietnam era.
“Normal, everyday people think this war is wrong — it’s not just activists,” said Maureen Havelka, a Kent State senior psychology major who attended the protest.
Speeches by actress Susan Sarandon and the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton highlighted the four-hour rally. The crowd spanned from the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial to a pond by the Washington Monument, a distance of about one-third of a mile.
Protesters then overflowed into Washington’s closed streets, drifting shoulder-to-shoulder with bobbing heads and signs, chanting adamantly in a procession around the White House.
International ANSWER, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, sponsored the event and coordinated other major rallies Saturday in San Francisco and around the world.
While President George W. Bush is calling for a regime change in Iraq, speakers and protesters repeatedly called for a change of power in the United States.
Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General, said the United States has weapons of mass destruction, which makes the government a “hypocrisy,” not a democracy.
“Regime change needs to begin at home,” Clark said.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson questioned the country’s priorities and demanded change. But when it matters, Jackson said, democracy will work, and protesters should trust it.
“This time the silent majority is on our side,” Jackson explained. “Americans do not want this war.”
Michael Barnes, a volunteer for ANSWER, said 100,000 protesters is a conservative estimate, and the crowd may have been as large as 200,000 people.
He said regular protests attract 10,000 to 20,000 people, and Saturday’s large audience gives the issue more legitimacy and shows the anti-war position is widely supported.