[southnews] Over 200 arrested in US antiwar protests Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:52:18 -0500 (CDT) Protesters on Wednesday launched sit-ins and marches across the United States as they marked five years of war in Iraq, demanding an immediate withdrawal of US soldiers. Over 200 arrested in U.S. antiwar protests Thu Mar 20, 2008 5:11am GMT By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 200 people were arrested across the United States on Wednesday as protesters marking the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq obstructed downtown traffic and tried to block access to government offices. There were 32 arrests in Washington after demonstrators attempted to block entrances to the Internal Revenue Service, while 30 others were arrested outside a congressional office building, police said. Protesters had hoped to shut down the IRS, the U.S. tax collection agency, to highlight the cost of the war. Police cleared the building's entrances within an hour. In San Francisco, long a centre of anti-Iraq war sentiment, police arrested more than 100 people who protested through the day along Market Street in the central business district, a spokesman said. Sgt. Steve Maninna said officers had arrested 143 people on charges including trespassing, resisting arrest and obstructing traffic. Four women were also detained for hanging a large banner off the city's famous Golden Gate Bridge and then released, said bridge spokeswoman Mary Currie. On Washington's National Mall, about 100 protesters carried signs that read: "The Endlessness Justifies the Meaninglessness" and waved upside-down U.S. flags, a traditional sign of distress. "Bush and Cheney, leaders failed, Bush and Cheney belong in jail," they chanted, referring to U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. One hour after the IRS standoff, several dozen protesters waved signs that read: "Stop Paying to Kill" and "How Much Longer?" as a ragtag brass band played. IRS employees were easily able to enter the building. "We wanted to put our bodies between the money and what that money goes to fund -- the war, the occupation, the bombs," said Frida Berrigan, an organizer with the War Resisters League. The war has cost the United States $500 billion (252 billion pounds) since the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein began in March 2003 and is a major issue in November's U.S. presidential election. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed and millions more displaced, with almost 4,000 U.S. soldiers killed. BLOCKING TRAFFIC Later, scores of noisy protesters blocked a busy intersection in Washington's business district. They picketed in front of the offices of The Washington Post and threw red paint on the building that houses the Examiner newspaper and Bechtel National Inc, which has handled major reconstruction projects in Iraq. In New York, about 30 members of the "Granny Peace Brigade" gathered in Times Square, knitting in hand, to demand troops be brought home now. "We're out here to show people that this war is madness. We never should have gotten into this war in the first place," said Shirley Weiner, 80. Police in Boston arrested five people who blocked access to a military recruitment centre by lying on a sidewalk dressed as slain Iraqi civilians, an Iraqi mourner, a slain U.S. soldier and an American citizen in mourning. "We went to this military recruiting station today because we want to see the war end immediately," said activist Joe Previtera in a statement. "Silently waiting for Congress to act on this war in 2009 will condemn thousands more people to injury and senseless death. Enough is enough." (Additional reporting by Lisa Lambert and Donna Smith in Washington, Adam Tanner in San Francisco and Emily Chasan in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney)__ _______________________________________________ Protests in US mark Iraq war anniversary 15 hours ago WASHINGTON (AFP) Protesters on Wednesday launched sit-ins and marches across the United States as they marked five years of war in Iraq, demanding an immediate withdrawal of US soldiers. Police in Washington arrested 33 people in front of entrances to the Internal Revenue Service, organizers and local media reported, as demonstrators sought to focus attention on taxpayers' money that bankrolls the deployment of about 158,000 troops in Iraq. "This war needs to end and it needs to end now," Leslie Cagan, national coordinator of United for Peace and Justice, told AFP. "I think people are looking for new ways to express their opposition." Anti-war groups planned other acts of civil disobedience throughout the US capital, seeking to disrupt traffic against "war profiteers" on K Street, known as the home of Washington's corporate lobbyists. Demonstrators were targeting government agencies, lawmakers, oil companies and "corporate media" who they accuse of promoting and sustaining the war, organizers said in a statement. "It's really time we end this occupation force and start making amends," said Rachel Payne, 19, who joined a small demonstration in front of the American Petroleum Institute not far from the White House. As protesters banged drums with police looking on, Payne held up a sign reading "What's our exit strategy?" Hundreds of protest events were planned nationwide, including vigils and larger rallies in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami. The demonstrations come as the death toll of US soldiers approaches 4,000 in a war that remains unpopular among American voters. Although attendance at anti-war demonstrations has declined in recent years, organizers of Wednesday's events said they were confident of attracting large crowds to the marches. Public disapproval of the war has yet to translate into massive waves of street demonstrations in the United States like those seen during the Vietnam war. While the war remains unpopular, with a majority of Americans calling the decision to invade a mistake, public opinion is divided over when to withdraw the US soldiers deployed in Iraq. The demonstrations come after a new poll for British television showed more than two-thirds of Iraqis believe US-led coalition forces should leave. In New York, protesters from the Granny Peace Brigade were to hold a "knit-in" at the Times Square military recruitment center that was targeted in a home-made bomb attack earlier this month. The grandmothers were to knit stump socks for amputee veterans and baby blankets for Iraqi families. "We grannies hope to highlight our message demanding an end to this useless and catastrophic war," said Barbara Walker, 74, among the group's members arrested when they tried to enlist in the military in 2005. In Chicago, a rally and protest march was to be held in the central business district while in Louisville, Kentucky protestors will read aloud the names of some of the nearly 4,000 US troops killed and the Iraqi civilians killed and displaced. Protestors in Dallas, Texas will perform skits, play music and hear Iraq veterans speak against the war on the grassy knoll overlooking the plaza where president John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Some 4,000 empty T-shirts will be strung along a street in Cincinnati, Ohio to memorialize the US soldiers killed. On the west coast, the focal point of protests in Los Angeles will be a military recruitment center in the heart of Hollywood, said the ANSWER coalition, or Act Now To Stop War And End Racism. The demonstration follows a weekend rally where about 2,000 people marched to protest the war. ------------------------------------ The archives of South News can be found at http://southmovement.alphalink.com.au/southnews/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/southnews/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/southnews/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:southnews-digest@yahoogroups.com mailto:southnews-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: southnews-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/