Massive anti-war, anti-Wall Street protest in San Francisco

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Saturday, March 21, 2009 | Heather Knight,Steve Rubenstein

[Dirk_Salvo]

The protest remained peaceful until the main group arrived at Civic Center Plaza. There, a couple hundred pro-Israel protesters waving Israeli flags were waiting for the larger contingent, which included many pro-Palestine protesters.

The pro-Palestine group broke off from the larger demonstration to confront the Israel supporters, who were carrying signs including "Hamas, stop using children as human shields." Both sides yelled angrily at each other and some protesters got into a physical fight, shoving each other. Police arrested at least two people.

About 100 police in riot gear were at the scene, and a dozen police vans were parked in the middle of Polk Street, which had been closed off.

Richard Ivanhoe and Cathy Bellin of San Francisco enjoyed the protest from a metal table at Justin Herman Plaza, taking in the "1, 2, 3, 4, We don't want your racist war" chants while snacking on blueberry muffins and coffee.

A black and white dog named Olive attempted to carry a sign reading "Stop U.S. Aid to Israel" in her teeth - and when she wasn't carrying the sign, she was chewing on it. "She's definitely anti-war," said her owner, Christina Susana.

Members of the anti-war group, Code Pink, were there, handing out hot pink stickers reading "Make out, not war" with lipstick prints on them. Gabrielle Faith, 23, wore a handmade pink tutu over her jeans and said Code Pink's message wasn't about one particular war.

Bruce Yurgil, a cartoonist from San Rafael, was trying to unload 80 homemade T-shirts showing former President George W. Bush's brain spilling from his head. The T-shirts were marked down half-price, to $10.

"It's no fun being a cartoonist these days," he said. "The only person I can make fun of any more is Rush Limbaugh."

[Dirk_Salvo]

Democrats won elections in 2006 and 2008 primarily on their vows to "end the Iraq War and bring the troops home". Liberal Democrats celebrated each troop death as a means to "more seats in Congress". Fast forward to 2009 and you'll find nary a Democrat who will speak on the record about whether they support the War or not.

[anniegetyourgun]

Freaks - all of ‘em.

[Califreak]

Cindy Sheehan wants to start protesting again.

Now that she’s outlived her usefulness and Bush is gone, you can bet there won’t be a peep from the media.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

I wonder if Zombie was there.

http://zombietime.com/

[Sidebar Moderator]

Please don't alter original headlines.

It causes duplicate postings.

Thanks. Your input is welcome anywhere else in the post.

[Cheerio]

"Obama has re-branded this war and made it cool for people to wave the flag again. But all the things people hated about Bush are being continued with a slightly different flavor."

I think it is absolutely delicious what is happening to libtard heads as they spin more rapidly every week, getting ready to explode. These people want the military brought home and disbanded so they can have the $400 Billion for AIDS reasearch and FRee health care for all. And some help with filling their gas tanks and mortgages.

[Kansas58]

These idiot libs don't realize that much, if not MOST of Wall Street is dominated by DEMOCRATS!

[\/\/ayne]

In Tucson we didn't even bother to counter the Spring "anti-war" protest. It was just 20 of the most radical aging hippie moonbats, who actually were doing so well looking like irrelevant bozos that it was good for our side to have people see them. Plus they didn't bother the troops and stayed downtown at the Federal Building.

In times past they had several hundred, this one was just pathetic.

[Nateman]

It’s sad so many jews voted for Obama. Looks like Israel is all alone now.

[Drango]

Massive? Massive???? there were less than 4,000 people there.

[struggle]

Massive tool protest? Maybe they should try Lowes or Home Depot instead...