Hundreds of people called the Bush administration's policies a crime and held up yellow police tape in front of the White House on Thursday amid a nationwide day of protest against the president.
The 500 demonstrators were among many who gathered for similar events in more than 200 cities to protest Bush on issues ranging from global warming to the war in Iraq.
"We are turning the corner in bringing forward a mass movement of resistance to drive out the Bush regime," said organizer Travis Morales with the activist group World Can't Wait.
The above is from Lubna Takruri's "Thousands nationwide protest Bush" (AP via Sierra Times) and this is a link-fest to note some of the World Can't Wait events across the country from yesterday. The AP story is running all over the world so we started with that. From Tan Vinh's "Administration foes step out statewide" (Seattle Times):
Scores of anti-war activists, environmentalists and high-school students marched from the University of Washington campus to Capitol Hill and then to downtown Seattle Thursday, berating President Bush for everything from his management of the Iraq war to the handling of Hurricane Katrina.
Across the state, more than 250 related demonstrations were held, including rallies in Bellingham, Everett, Tacoma, Olympia, Wenatchee and Spokane, said organizers of the National Day of Mass Resistance. They said protests also were held as far away as Switzerland and Nepal.
In Seattle, police arrested three protesters for investigation of obstruction, resisting arrest and assault in connection with "some kind of altercation with officers at the scene," said police spokeswoman Debra Brown. Officers said one man carried a rifle wrapped in a blanket to a rally at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill.
Overall, authorities called the rallies peaceful. Demonstrators did cause traffic congestion around 4 p.m. at the Federal Building in downtown Seattle, where the protest was to end at midnight with a sit-in.
At San Francisco Bay Indymedia, Charles Slay's "World Can't Wait March and Rally" is a photo essay. Not all participants are pictured. For instance, the Blue Angels apparently wanted to register their opposition to the administration by buzzing the rally in F-16s. Moving on to Alice Hunt's "Peace activists hold anti-Bush festival" (Poughkeepsie Journal):
Political activists, peace advocates and curious community members gathered at the "Sick-Of-Bush" festival Thursday in New Paltz's Hasbrouck Park.
The goal was to get people talking, said Josh Schulman, one of the organizers and co-chairman of the Kingston chapter of World Can't Wait, a national organization whose motto is "drive out the Bush regime."
Activities included music, poetry readings, speeches, a "kvetching parade" and teach-ins.
Organized by local chapters of World Can't Wait, the festival was one of more than 200 held in communities nationwide.
New Paltz residents Ellen Pitt and Julie Tresco thumbed through a pile of petitions and informational pamphlets on a table at the festival.
From John Simpson's "Protestors ready for Cheney" (Bradenton Herald):
About 150 anti-Iraq war and anti-George Bush demonstrators rallied in Sarasota on Thursday. Some of them said they'll be back today with the same disapproving message for visiting Vice President Dick Cheney.
The demonstrators, from Bradenton, Anna Maria Island, Sarasota and Port Charlotte, joined others rallying Thursday in more than 200 cities. The protests were coordinated by World Can't Wait, an organization seeking to drive Bush from office.
At 10:30 a.m. today, Naomi Nye, who organized a Sarasota chapter of World Can't Wait group three weeks ago, and other protesters plan to line up along U.S. 41 to greet Cheney as he arrives in support of congressional candidate Vern Buchanan.
Nye's group will assemble at the Municipal Auditorium along U.S. 41 between 10th Street and Boulevard of the Arts.
Call Thursday's rally a warmup.
"We didn't plan it that way," protester Julia Aires said laughing. "But it just kinda' dropped in our laps. We want to send a message - not just to Cheney - but to our fellow citizens to empower them and tell them to stand up. We want the country and the planet to go in a different direction."
Earlier this week, Sally Tibbetts, communications director for the Buchanan campaign, said Buchanan supports the president in the war in Iraq and called it a key element of the war on terror.
Stretching from Bayfront Drive to U.S. 41, the demonstrators Thursday brandished their banners, signs and flags in an effort "to get the wheels rolling to oust the Bush administration," Nye said. Later about 60 people marched down Main Street and were greeted with waves from business owners and honking horns from passers-by.
"People are fed up. The tide is definitely turning," Nye said.
Others agreed, like Sarah Dick, 82, but she said much of the American public today prefers to be uninvolved.
Hopefully you weren't "uninvolved" yesterday. People in Chicago took to the streets -- Emma Graves Fitzsimmons, Brendan McCarthy and Rudy Bush's "1,500 join Bush protest in Loop" (Chicago Tribune):
Many of the protesters marching through downtown Thursday against the Bush administration were veteran activists, but the demonstration was a first for Gina Latinovich.After learning of the event from a leaflet at a farmers market, the housewife from River Forest and her 11-year-old daughter attended their first protest together.
"I've been feeling hopeless about the war and global warming, and I realized I couldn't wait anymore," said Latinovich, 49.
Police estimated that about 1,500 people attended Chicago's march from Grant Park to Federal Plaza Thursday afternoon during a day of national protests in more than 100 cities called "World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Bush Regime."
Although the protesters had a shared distaste for the Bush administration, the name of the march held a different meaning for each one. Latinovich said it meant criminal investigations into Bush policies such as the Iraq war, wiretapping and the use of torture. For others, it meant everything from impeachment to the Democrats winning November congressional elections.
Rebecca Miller, a freshman at Columbia College, missed her afternoon cultural anthropology class to attend the rally because she said she feared the Iraq war was only breeding more terrorism. She said she hoped young people would vote to push the Republicans out of Congress to put a check on the president.
"It's just one class. I can always make up the homework," Miller, 18, said as the march left Grant Park. "This is more important."
And in New York, they made themselves heard. From Chelsea Cooley's "Students join anti-Bush march at U.N." (NY's Washington Square News):
Hundreds of protesters packed the streets yesterday, marching 33 blocks from the United Nations building at First Avenue and 47th Street to Union Square, chanting their message: "Drive out the Bush regime!"
Police barriers lined the entire path, preventing the protesters -- including many NYU students -- from overtaking the streets and sidewalks. Throughout the ranks, signs read "Bush Is a War Criminal" and "Torture Is Evil." Children, college students, adults and elderly people all participated in the demonstration sponsored by the World Can't Wait organization, a group dedicated to driving out the Bush administration.
Actor Mark Ruffalo, who also participated in the event, said students should act out against Bush because "it's their world being destroyed."
Many activists who did not participate in the march downtown were present for events at the U.N. plaza beforehand. At noon, masses of curious onlookers congregated to listen to songs and speeches condemning President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Protesters who took the mic at the plaza discussed topics including the 16 activists who were arrested for civil disobedience during Bush’s speech at the same location on Sept. 19.
And will close with Mike Barber's "Hundreds protest 'Bush Regime'" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) because Seattle's media covered this and Barber's name should be one we remember from his coverage of war resisters Ehren Watada and Ricky Clousing:
One was Linda Boyd, a Clyde Hill mom and housewife. Another was Linda Strader, a West Seattle real estate agent. Patricia Thompson, a Seattle legal assistant, turned out with her law firm.
They were among several hundred protesters who rallied all day in Seattle against President Bush on Thursday, one of about 200 coordinated demonstrations nationwide organized by World Can't Wait -- Drive Out the Bush Regime. The day began at the University of Washington, moved to 11th Avenue and Olive Way on Capitol Hill and eventually to an all-night rally in front of the federal building downtown.
[. . .]
Asked what motivated them to protest, nearly everyone in attendance cited a litany of reasoned, passionate concerns -- the conduct of the war in Iraq, domestic spying, erosion of civil liberties and the botched federal response to Hurricane Katrina. They said Bush's recent signing of a bill authorizing tough detainee interrogation amounts to legalizing torture.
"I'm probably the only Realtor out here," Strader, 53, said of the first demonstration she has attended in her life. "I just decided today to put my convictions where my mouth is."
Having grown up an "Army brat," Strader said she has sympathy for troops she thinks are being misused by being ordered to fight in Iraq. She also said she is "mad and scared that someone could come into my home due to my convictions," referring to her fears of domestic spying and that the Constitution has been eroded during the Bush administration.
Across the country, demonstrations and rallies went on yesterday. In case they aren't noted (and they probably won't be), we did a link-fest to note some of them.
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