|
|
|
 |
FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
|
|
|
|
Posted on 10/08/2002 12:27:11 PM PDT by Ole Black Bill
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated on the streets of the United States' largest cities to protest President George W Bush's plans to invade Iraq.
The protests - with additional demonstrations planned in various US cities - were timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the US-led bombing campaign against the Taliban and its al-Qaeda allies in Afghanistan.
In New York on Sunday, at least 15 000 people - led by a handful of top Hollywood stars - gathered in Central Park to denounce Washington's stance towards Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Among the protesters was Oscar-winning movie star Susan Sarandon, star of hit films such as Thelma and Louise, and her husband, actor-director Tim Robbins.
Sarandon slammed the Bush administration's alleged bellicose policy as "madness ... a war that would kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people."
Who's next?
The pair called on Americans to contact their members of Congress to express their opposition to plans to attack Baghdad.
Robbins claimed that the US president, who comes from Texas, was more interested in oil profits than global diplomacy and was ready to attack other nations.
"Colombia will be next. This is an an oil hungry administration," he said.
Also among the huge crowd of protesters in New York were relatives of some of the 2 800 victims of the airborne terror attacks on New York's World Trade Centre on September 11 last year.
"I don't want my country to bomb Iraqi children, women, men, innocent people, in my name ... not in my name," insisted Janet Williams, whose brother Bill died in the September 11 strikes.
The protest was one of a string of demonstrations organized by a group dubbed "Not In Our Name," a coalition of anti-war activists opposed to the US bombing of Afghanistan and US plans to launch military action against Iraq.
Arrests
Two arrests were for disorderly conduct during the lively but otherwise peaceful protest, police in New York said.
Protesters in such cities as New York, San Franciso and Los Angeles chanted slogans and held up placards bearing slogans such as "Change the US administration, not Iraq's."
In downtown San Francisco, some 5 000 people protested in the city's Union Square area, according to the local police department.
"This was a fairly significant demonstration, but it was entirely peaceful and no arrests were made," Paul Yep, a spokesman with the San Francisco Police Department said.
In Los Angeles, about 3 000 people took part in protests held near the campus of the University of California at Los Angeles, forcing police to close down a battery of streets in the area and even a freeway, albeit briefly.
Police said the demonstration was the largest so far against Washington's Iraq policy, but reported no violence or arrests.
"This is all about stopping this war," protester Joey Johnson said. "It's unjust, immoral, it's unprecedented, it's not legitimate, it's a global onslaught."
In addition to opposing a war on Iraq, protesters also want Washington to stop detentions and roundups of immigrants and halt "police state" restrictions on civil liberties.
And Oliver Stone
More protests took place in other US cities and some were planned for Monday in such places as Chicago, Seattle, Washington, Portland in the state of Oregon, Houston, Atlanta in the southern state of Georgia and Denver in Colorado.
Those demonstrations also coincide with Bush's planned televised speech late Monday, in which he is expected to make his case to the American public for US military action against Baghdad.
On Friday, several hundred celebrities and intellectuals published a "Not in our Name" manifesto in the Los Angeles Times, urging Americans to resist their government's policies.
We "call on the people of the US to resist the policies and overall political direction that have emerged since September 11, 2001, and which pose grave dangers to the people of the world," they wrote.
|
|
|
|
|
FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
|
|
|
|
Curious you should mention that.....
... it's a global onslaught ...If only.
Let's all just sit back and wait for them to bomb the innocent people here ... oh wait, that's already been done!
... Americans slam Bush's war plan ...Because they want war now. Why the hell are we being made to wait?
I believe the title should read "Anarchists, Socialists, Communists, Enviro-wacko-mentalists, and Arabists slam Bush's war plan."
Hey "Ole Black Bill," which of the above anti-Americans best describes you?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.