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October 30, 2005, Sunday
ANTIWAR PROTESTERS MARCH ON COMMON
MOTHER OF SLAIN US SOLDIER
ADDRESSES CROWD OF 2,000
BYLINE: By Michael Levenson, Globe Correspondent
About 2,000 antiwar protesters marched on Boston Common
yesterday, loudly calling for an immediate withdrawal of US
troops from Iraq after a week in which the number of
Americans killed in the war topped 2,000.
Chanting "No more war," demonstrators trudged down
snow-whipped Tremont Street and up Park Street past the
State House and then looped back to the Common, streaming
peacefully past scores of police officers who lined the
parade route, clutching batons.
Before the march, Cindy Sheehan the mother of a soldier
slain in Iraq whose vigil outside President Bush's ranch in
Crawford, Texas, this summer helped galvanize the antiwar
movement rallied the crowd.
Like many speakers, Sheehan seized on the rising death toll
in Iraq, as well as the indictment this week of a vice
presidential aide on charges of perjury, obstruction, and
making false statements, as fresh evidence that the war was
immoral and based on deception.
"We were all finally pleased that one of the liars was
exposed," Sheehan said, referring to the indictment of I.
Lewis Libby Jr., as the crowd applauded. "But how many more
liars do we have to go after in this administration?"
With that, the throng teenagers with faces swathed in
bandanas, teachers, nurses, union organizers, and longtime
peace activists shouted in unison: "All of them!"
"To prison," a woman's voice chimed in.
A group called The October 29th Coalition organized the
demonstration. Sponsors included college antiwar groups,
socialist organizations, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and
City Councilor Felix Arroyo, who also participated.
During the protest, about half a dozen counter-demonstrators
appeared on the Common and began shouting at the antiwar
protesters, defending the war as a necessary act to ensure
American freedoms. They eventually left after a protracted
shouting match.
Polls show a majority of Americans now oppose the war, but
some of the antiwar demonstrators were saddened that the
audience, dominated by veteran activists, did not seem to
reflect the breadth of that majority.
Some worried that the virulently anti-administration tone of
the demonstration might have scared off some opponents of
the war.
One demonstrator carried a sign that read, "Bush Wants Your
Children For Cannon Fodder," and another that accused the
president of causing the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Some of the musical performers sang antiwar anthems that
could have played on any coffeehouse stage. But others led
the demonstrators in chanting choruses laced with expletives
against the president and the war.
Sheehan, whose son, Casey, was killed in April 2004 after
insurgents ambushed his unit in the Sadr City section of
Baghdad, said it was important to use strong language to
oppose the war. She mentioned a woman who had once e-mailed
her after she cursed the Bush administration.
"She said, 'Cindy, don't you want to use a little nicer
language, because you know there might be people sitting on
the fence that you offend,' " Sheehan told the crowd. "And
do you know what I said? I said, 'Damn it, why is anybody on
that fence still?' "
"A lot of people will come up to me and say, 'My country
right or wrong,' " Sheehan added later. "And you know what I
say? When my country is wrong, it is so wrong, and it is
mandatory for us to stop it, to stop the killing, to stop
the people in power."
The message resonated with Ernest Johnson, 60, of Abington,
who held a handmade sign that read, "Iraq War Is Offensive."
"It's like Vietnam," said Johnson, a manager at a Brockton
foundry that makes manhole covers. "I don't think it's going
to stop until people get into the streets."
Jill Hallisey, 50, a nurse practitioner from Jamaica Plain,
said yesterday's rally was her first. Her reason to attend:
"The 2,000 dead," she said.
"It just kind of hit home how many people, and plus this
latest indictment people can't ignore it," she said. "I know
they try to do everything they can to change our attention
to something else, but you really can't ignore it when the
administration is outright lying."
A copy of the Boston police deployment plan for the protest,
obtained by the Globe, called for 323 officers a sizable
contingent but less than the 558 who patrolled the city
during the Red Sox season-ending series against the Yankees
at Fenway Park and the 334 who patrolled during the American
League Championship Series last year, when an Emerson
College student was killed.
Along the route of yesterday's march, officers were visible
on horses, bicycles, and on foot. Police afterward reported
no arrests.
During the march, some demonstrators stopped outside a
conference at the Tremont Street Baptist Church that sought
to encourage gays and lesbians to become heterosexuals. Some
protesters chanted "Shut it down," and one waved a sign that
read, "Thank God we're gay."
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