Anti-war demonstrators stage day of protest

updated 2:29 p.m. ET Sept. 25, 2005

WASHINGTON - Crowds opposed to the war in Iraq surged past the White House on Saturday, shouting “Peace now” in the largest anti-war protest in the nation’s capital since the U.S. invasion.

The rally stretched through the day and into the night, a marathon of music, speechmaking and dissent on the National Mall. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey, noting that organizers had hoped to draw 100,000 people, said, “I think they probably hit that.”

Speakers from the stage attacked President Bush’s policies head on, but he was not at the White House to hear it. He spent the day in Colorado and Texas, monitoring hurricane recovery.

In the crowd: young activists, nuns whose anti-war activism dates to Vietnam, parents mourning their children in uniform lost in Iraq, and uncountable families motivated for the first time to protest.

Andrew Councill / AFP - Getty Images Cecily Letendre of Nashville, Tenn., places roses on crosses of a makeshift cemetery representing soldiers killed in the Iraq War, near the Washington Monument on Saturday.

Connie McCroskey, 58, came from Des Moines, Iowa, with two of her daughters, both in their 20s, for the family’s first demonstration. McCroskey, whose father fought in World War II, said she never would have dared protest during the Vietnam War.

“Today, I had some courage,” she said.

People of differing politics unite
While united against the war, political beliefs varied. Paul Rutherford, 60, of Vandalia, Mich., said he is a Republican who supported Bush in the last election and still does — except for the war.

“President Bush needs to admit he made a mistake in the war and bring the troops home, and let’s move on,” Rutherford said. His wife, Judy, 58, called the removal of Saddam Hussein “a noble mission” but said U.S. troops should have left when claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction proved unfounded.

“We found that there were none and yet we still stay there and innocent people are dying daily,” she said.

“Bush Lied, Thousands Died,” said one sign. “End the Occupation,” said another. More than 1,900 members of the U.S. armed forces have died since the beginning of the war in March 2003.

Rallies also held on West Coast
Thousands of people attended smaller rallies in cities on the West Coast, including in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.

In Washington, a few hundred people in a counter demonstration in support of Bush’s Iraq policy lined the protest route near the FBI building. The two groups shouted at each other, a police line keeping them apart. Organizers of a pro-military rally Sunday hoped for 10,000 people.

Ramsey said the day’s protest unfolded peacefully under the heavy police presence. “They’re vocal but not violent,” he said.

By early evening, police reported three arrests, all for minor offenses.

Arthur Pollock, 47, of Cecil County, Md., said he was against the war from the beginning. He wants the soldiers out, but not all at once.

“They’ve got to leave slowly,” said Pollock, attending his first protest. “It will be utter chaos in that country if we pull them out all at once.”

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