top
San Francisco
San Francisco
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Activists Protest Five Years of War

by Liz Highleyman
Several hundred activists hit the streets on Wednesday, March 19, to protest the fifth anniversary of the war and occupation in Iraq. Direct actions took place throughout the day in downtown San Francisco, including a large die-in and mass arrest on Market Street.
hoods12-banner-proc.jpg
Protesters gathered at dawn at Market and Sansome Street and soon departed on snake marches throughout the Financial District.

Direct actions, including blockades and lock-downs, took place at several locations, including offices of Chevron, Bechtel, and the local army recruiting station. Bike blocs took off from Justin Hermann Plaza throughout the morning.

At noon, most of the activists regrouped at Market and Montgomery Street outside the offices of Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-SF), to protest her support for the war. The diverse crowd of young and old included members of Direct Action to Stop the War, Code Pink, the Raging Grannies, and many others.

A group of about 50 people conducted a die-in, blocking Market Street traffic for nearly two hours. As the die-in participants were being arrested, another group of 20 activists, chained together and clad in orange jumpsuits and hoods to represent prisoners at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, arrived and also blocked the intersection. All were arrested, the last around 2:30 pm.

In all the day's actions through 5 pm, there were an estimated 150 total arrests. At that time an antiwar rally called by World Can't Wait/ANSWER was taking place at Civic Center, with a march to the Mission scheduled to depart at 6 pm.

§Bike bloc participant asks why they can't use the bike lane
by Liz Highleyman
bike-bloc05-proc.jpg
§Police drive bike bloc onto the sidewalk
by Liz Highleyman
bike-bloc02-proc.jpg
§Die-in at Market and Montgomery
by Liz Highleyman
die-in01-proc.jpg
§Die-in at Market and Montgomery
by Liz Highleyman
die-in03-proc.jpg
§Die-in at Market and Montgomery
by Liz Highleyman
die-in02-proc.jpg
§Daniel Ellsberg interviewed prior to his arrest
by Liz Highleyman
ellsberg01-proc.jpg
§One of the die-in arrestees
by Liz Highleyman
arrest12-nun-proc.jpg
§Arrestees being processed
by Liz Highleyman
arrest05-proc.jpg
§First busload of arrestees is hauled off
by Liz Highleyman
bus03-proc.jpg
§Brass Liberation Orchestra keeps spirits high
by Liz Highleyman
blo01-proc.jpg
§Overview of the scene at Market and Montgomery
by Liz Highleyman
montgomery05-proc.jpg
§Another of the eventual arrestees
by Liz Highleyman
snakebeard01-proc.jpg
§Police out in force
by Liz Highleyman
banner04-nowar-proc.jpg
§Act Against Torture
by Liz Highleyman
hoods16-signs-proc.jpg
§Police prepare to arrest anti-torture group
by Liz Highleyman
hoods22-cops-proc.jpg
§Beanbag rifle goes so well with the jumpsuits...
by Liz Highleyman
hoods38-cops-proc.jpg
§Anti-torture arrest
by Liz Highleyman
hoods41-arrest-k-proc.jpg
§Anti-torture group being processed
by Liz Highleyman
hoods28-arrest-proc.jpg
Add Your Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
Sunni Ruiz
Fri, Mar 21, 2008 10:38AM
Correction
Thu, Mar 20, 2008 8:36PM
Mario
Thu, Mar 20, 2008 11:23AM
dunno
Thu, Mar 20, 2008 7:58AM
Ilse
Thu, Mar 20, 2008 6:48AM
^
Thu, Mar 20, 2008 2:33AM
Waard
Thu, Mar 20, 2008 12:42AM
response
Wed, Mar 19, 2008 10:44PM
what happened?
Wed, Mar 19, 2008 8:17PM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$75.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network