[Mb-civic] Protests demand end to Iraq war - Boston Globe

[William Swiggard]

Protests demand end to Iraq war
Marches held in Washington, foreign cities

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff  |  September 25, 2005

WASHINGTON -- In a daylong marathon of protest, more than 100,000 
antiwar demonstrators -- echoing the marches of a generation ago, but 
adding a 21st century global component -- rallied in Washington, London, 
and other cities yesterday to demand that President Bush and Prime 
Minister Tony Blair of Britain withdraw military forces from Iraq.

The young and the old, longtime peace activists and first-time 
protesters, gathered on the National Mall in what was billed as the 
largest antiwar demonstration since the war began in March 2003. In the 
British capital earlier in the day, police estimated that 10,000 chanted 
''out of Iraq" and blew horns as they converged on Hyde Park in central 
London.

Smaller gatherings took place in other US and European cities, including 
an ad hoc rally by stranded protesters in Philadelphia's 30th Street 
Station, victims of an electrical problem that delayed Amtrak's 
Northeast rail service to Washington, D.C. About 150 protesters in 
Auckland, New Zealand, forced the closure of a main bank branch.

National Park Service officials said they were not tallying the crowd 
size, but authorities with the Washington police said the organizers may 
have reached their predicted turnout of 100,000 protesters. The 
demonstrators traveled to the capital from around the country to take 
part in a showcase demonstration that marched past the White House and 
the US Capitol.

Many wore T-shirts calling for President Bush's impeachment, including 
''regime change begins at home," while others held photos of fallen 
American soldiers and shouted ''Bush lied, people died." Demonstrators 
held signs reading ''College not Combat" as relatives of soldiers who 
died in Iraq held one another and wept for their loved ones.

A white cross bearing the name of Lance Corporal Alexander Arredondo of 
Boston's Roslindale neighborhood stood out among the rows of other 
unadorned markers that turned the grounds of the Washington Monument 
into a faux military cemetery. Arredondo's official Marine Corps 
portrait, combat boots, dog tags, and copies of his letters home were 
delicately placed around the cross by his father, Carlos.

''No more," Carlos Arredondo said as he handed out copies of his son's 
last letter to ''Mom and Dad," in which the 21-year-old raised the big 
''what if" but said he was proud of doing his duty. Arredondo was killed 
in Najaf last year after a three-hour firefight, becoming the 968th 
American soldier to die in Iraq.

Also on hand in Washington were more than 250 military families, 
hundreds of veterans, and even a few active-duty Army soldiers just home 
from overseas.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/09/25/protests_demand_end_to_iraq_war/
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