100,000 March in Washington, DC Protests Demand "Bring the Troops Home Now!" More Than 15,000 March in San Francisco Against Occupation

Washington DC - - credit: Werner Petrikat, PVN

San Francisco -- credit: Jondabomb, Indymedia

Oct. 25, 2003--More than 15,000 people marched in San Francisco today, chanting: "$87 Billion for Jobs and Education, Not for War and Occupation," and "Bring the Troops Home Now!" National marches in San Francisco and Washington, DC were the largest show of opposition to the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq since the anti-war protests this Spring. Buses from all over the country brought 100,000 to the national march in Washington, DC. The San Francisco demonstration marched from Civic Center to Jefferson Square Park in the Western Addition district.

Among those demonstrating were veterans of the Vietnam and Gulf Wars, as well as families of military who have been killed in Iraq or are currently there. Rally speakers included: Hon. Cynthia McKinney, former Congresswoman; actor Danny Glover; Ron Kovic, Vietnam veteran and author of "Born on the Fourth of July;" Samina Fahim and Andrea Buffa, United for Peace & Justice; Janine Antoine, Vanguard Foundation; Ban al-Wardi of the Free Palestine Alliance; Walter Johnson, Secretary-Treasurer of the San Francisco Labor Council; Richard Becker, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition; Palestinian activist Amer Jubran and Carole Seligman, Bay Area United Against War; Linda Villa and Tanya Mayo, Not In Our Name Project; Ninotchka Rosca, BAYAN; Peter Camejo, Green Party; and SF Supervisors Tom Ammiano and Matt Gonzalez.

"We are very encouraged by the fact that people turned out across the U.S. and in many other countries today to show the Bush administration and the world that there is a growing movement inside this country that is anti-war, anti-occupation, and anti-empire, and we're not going away!" said LeiLani Dowell, ANSWER youth and student organizer.

The national marches were cosponsored by the International A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) Coalition and United for Peace & Justice. The San Francisco march was cosponsored by ANSWER, Not In Our Name, Bay Area United Against War, United for Peace & Justice, and the Vanguard Public Foundation, and endorsed by many labor, community and political organizations.

For more information, call A.N.S.W.E.R. at 415-821-6545.

8 PM C-SPAN REBROADCAST OF OCTOBER 25 RALLY IN WASHINGTON, DC

October 25, 2003--The march and rally today in Washington DC - estimated by march organizers to number 100,000 - will be rebroadcast this evening at 8:00 p.m. on C-Span 1.

This demonstration was a huge sucess, far exceeding organizers expectations. Busses started arriving before 8 a.m. and kept coming all day with a large number of busses arriving as late as 2 p.m. Throughout the day crowd swelled and the march took up more than 20 city blocks, including Washington's eight lane boulevards. A sister action in San Francisco drew 20,000 people into the streets demanding an end to the occupation of Iraq and calling for troops to be brought home now.

We want to thank the thousands of A.N.S.W.E.R. supporters and volunteers across the country who made these demonstrations a success.

Funds are urgently needed so that this movement can continue its renewed momentum and take the next steps. To donate online through our secure server go to http://www.internationalanswer.org/donate.html

C-Span is currently scheduling a rebroadcast of the rally for 8 p.m. Saturday October 25. Check C-Span's schedule, at http://www.cspan.org to get current schedule information for future rebroadcasts.

To view a slideshow of photos from today's demonstration go to http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=ss and click on the link titled "Anti-War Protests."