Iraq war protesters to march on Pentagon

March 17, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Thousands of people were expected to converge on the center of the US capital Saturday and march on the Pentagon as part of a series of demonstrations marking the fourth anniversary of the increasingly unpopular Iraq war, organizers said.

"We're feeling a shift in the general population of the country who are now opposed to the war and are now thinking about doing something about it, not only about voting but becoming active in the anti-war struggle," Bill Hackwell, a spokesman for protest organizer Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), told AFP.

Late Friday, about 100 peace activists, including members of the clergy, were arrested as they held a vigil on a sidewalk on front of the White House, ignoring police orders to disperse.

"Hopefully, I think it really speaks truth to power," said Kate Manzanares, a 29-year-old doctor from Virginia, who watched the arrests along with about 1,000 other protesters.

Earlier in the day, the group that organized the vigil, Christian Peace Witness for Iraq, held a service at Washington's National Cathedral that was attended by 3,500-4,000 people, organizers said.

The war has grown increasingly unpopular, with recent polls showing that a majority of Americans now say the invasion was a mistake and want the US government to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

Hackwell said more Americans are demanding change because too much money is being spent on the war rather than social needs like health care, education and employment.

"It is not an exaggeration to make this connection about the funding that gets cut for needed social programs and the money going to the Pentagon," he said.

War veterans and their families were to lead the march starting at 12:30 pm (1630 GMT).

Other anti-war events are planned in the next few days across the country.

In Los Angeles, thousands of protesters are expected to take the streets of Hollywood Saturday and another ANSWER demonstration is expected in San Francisco.

United for Peace and Justice, which describes itself as the largest anti-war coalition in the United States, said it was expecting thousands of people to turn up at a protest in New York on Sunday.

"The national anti-war movement is planning a unified surge of protest actions calling on Congress to end the occupation and for the immediate withdrawal of US troops," the group said in a statement.

The leftist group MoveOn.org is also organizing candlelight vigils for Monday in Washington and across the country, spokesman Steve Hoffman said.

Anti-war activists have heavily mobilized since Democrats took control of Congress from President George W. Bush's Republicans in November elections marked by voter anger at the war.

Activists want the Democratic-led Congress to push hard for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, where more than 3,200 American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died since the war began.

The protests come on the heels of congressional votes on Iraq.

Democrats failed to pass in the Senate a plan to withdraw US troops by March 2008, although a measure calling for a pullout by September 2008 passed a key panel in the House of Representatives Thursday.