Reply #19: Let the coverage begin: WA POST Anti-War Protest Kicks Off at the White House

[L. Coyote]

Anti-War Protest Kicks Off at the White House
By Jerry Markon and Dion Haynes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 15, 2007; 12:30 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/15/AR2007091500826.html

The first major protest against the Iraq War in Washington since January kicked off today with speeches near the White House, to be followed by a "die-in" at the U.S. Capitol featuring the playing of tap and a mock 21-gun salute.

Protesters and counter-protesters started to gather by 8:30 a.m. for the event, which is expected to be followed by a week of civil disobedience in the Washington area intended to shift the anti-war movement to a more confrontational phase. Organizers were predicting tens of thousands of protesters, though their permit is for 10,000.

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The event today is organized by the ANSWER Coalition, which stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. It formally began at noon at Lafayette Park, on the north side of the White House, with speeches from at least two dozen speakers ranging from former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and Ralph Nader to Washington Wizards player Etan Thomas and Michael Berg, whose son Nicolas was a contractor killed in Iraq.

In Lafayette Park, hundreds of protesters gathered to wait for the day's speeches. They walked around with signs that said the country should "drop Bush, not bombs" and declaring the President guilty of war crimes. They also listened to songs such as "the revolution will not be televised" and Edwin Starr's classic antiwar song "War."