WP: Thousands in Manhattan Protest War, Urges U.S. Withdrawal From Iraq

Thousands in Manhattan Protest War
Peaceful March, Rally on Madison Avenue Urges U.S. Withdrawal From Iraq
By Michelle Garcia
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, March 21, 2004; Page A09


NEW YORK, March 20 -- Marking the one-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion in Iraq, tens of thousands of people converged in Manhattan to protest the military occupation and called for the U.S. government to withdraw its troops.

Leslie Cagan, coordinator of the New York demonstration for the group United for Peace and Justice, said they want to keep pressuring the Bush administration to ensure that Iraqis quickly gain sovereignty and achieve self-rule. She added that peace activists have expanded the scope of their mission to "challenge the policies in Washington that lead us into war again and again."
"We want to stop future Iraqs from happening," she said.

The crowd along Madison Avenue represented an array of professions, ages and backgrounds from the East Coast. They arrived by bus, caravan and subway.

Activists in Connecticut rented a four-car commuter train dubbed the Peace Train, which picked up rally-goers along the way, including retired union man Hal Lgongquist, 63, and Ralph Ferrucci, 32, a Green Party congressional candidate.

"We believe the money Bush spends for the war is ill-spent; it could be better used to rebuild schools here," said Lgongquist, a former pipe fitter.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11596-2004Mar20.html

From the Sunday World Herald, Omaha, Nebraska.

<snip>

Organizers estimated that up to 2 million people demonstrated in Rome and 100,000 in London, but police in those cities gave estimates of 250,000 and 25,000 respectively.

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No link because I just read this in an article in the local rag. If necessary and someone feels the need, it's on page 15A.

Anyway, how come such a big difference in the numbers. Are they so afraid that if the truth be told that the majority of the people in all nations are against this war, and that so many are willing to march in protest against it, maybe Blair and Berlusconi will have a serious problem on their hands? I think that they already do. Trying to disguise the seriousness of the problem won't help one bit.

There'd be hundreds of thousands of people in the street, and "official" reports would be < 100K

here -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x434202

I'm about to lock this thread as a dupe.