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Rally oct 26 ap { October 26 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21371-2002Oct26.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21371-2002Oct26.html
Anti-War Activists Rally in Washington
By Lawrence L. Knutson
Associated Press Writer
Saturday, October 26, 2002; 2:27 PM
Demonstrators by the hundreds gathered near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Saturday for what organizers pledged would be a loud, angry but nonviolent protest march against President Bush's pre-emptive war policies.
One graphic sign showed Bush's face at the end of two bright red bombs with the caption: "Drop Bush, not bombs." Another demonstrator's sign said: "Regime change begins at home." Bush administration policy holds that a "regime change" must come about in Iraq, by force if necessary.
Saturday's march around the White House coincides with anti-war demonstrations in San Francisco, Rome, Berlin, Copenhagen, Tokyo and Mexico City. Organizers say they expected the combined participation of hundreds of thousands of people.
Turnout was below expectations for the first overseas demonstration, a march through downtown Tokyo in which about 300 protesters sang anti-war songs and held up banners. One said: "Stop the war before it starts."
At the front of the marchers were three men, each wearing a paper mask depicting President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair or Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Demonstrators carried a papier-mache model of a Tomahawk cruise missile.
Thousands of people protested in northern Europe, but the turnouts were far below organizers' predictions.
In Germany, a crowd estimated by police at 4,500 people carried placards that declared "War on the imperialist war," "Stop Bush's campaign" and "No blood for oil," along with a few Iraqi flags, at Berlin's downtown Alexanderplatz ahead of a planned march past the U.S. and British embassies. Another 1,500 showed up in Frankfurt, 500 in Hamburg.
Rain poured on 1,500 demonstrators outside the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark. In neighboring Sweden, more than 1,000 hit the streets in Stockholm.
Buses brought in hundreds of demonstrators, college students and out-of-town residents for Washington's rally. A man with a gray beard wore a pin on his cap that read "Dissent is patriotic" and carried a sign that read "Honor Wellstone: speak truth to power." Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., who voted against the congressional resolution authorizing force in Iraq, died Friday in a plane crash while campaigning for re-election.
Facing the traffic on nearby Constitution Avenue was a man in a smiling Bush mask, carrying a sign that read: "Bow to the New World Orderer."
While the marchers planned to demonstrate near the White House, the president and first lady Laura Bush were not at home to see or hear them. They flew Saturday from their Texas ranch to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where the president was attending the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Among other things, Bush was seeking to rally fellow leaders behind his Iraq stance.
© 2002 The Associated Press
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