Anti War Actions Throughout the Bay Area on the 5th Anniversary of the War

Hundreds of protests throughout the U.S. took place in cities and towns large and small on the fifth anniversary of the war. In San Francisco, ANSWER organized a night-time march of 7,000 people. Thousands of young people joined the very spirited and densely packed march which stretched for several blocks along Mission St. Chants of “Occupation is a crime, from Iraq to Palestine,” “No More War,” and “El Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido” (the People United Will Never Be Defeated) echoed through the Mission District. Among the speakers at the event were Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq; independent presidential candidates Cynthia McKinney and Gloria La Riva; Zeina Zaatari of the Free Palestine Alliance; Iraqi American activist Mohammed Al-Adeeb; Hal Muskat, Veterans for Peach and Eugene Puryear, National Co-Coordinator of Youth and Student ANSWER. Direct Action Against the War, supported by many different groups, tied up downtown for hours in downtown San Francisco in the morning with die ins and other creative civil disobedience. Around 150 were arrested.