100,000 March Against Iraq War in Washington

200 Arrested in Dramatic Mass Die-In
from Act Now to Stop War and End Racism answer.pephost.org

On Sept. 15, 2007, nearly 100,000 people — led by anti-war Iraq veterans, military families and others — marched from the White House to the Capitol in Washington, D.C. to demand an immediate end to the occupation of Iraq. The march concluded with a dramatic “die-in” of 5,000 people surrounding the Capitol. Almost 200 people were arrested when police prevented them taking an anti-war message to Congress.

People marched shoulder-to-shoulder on eight-lane-wide Pennsylvania Avenue, with the densely packed march stretching more than 10 blocks. It was a historic action and a step forward for the anti-war movement.

Protesters surged onto the Capitol’s south lawn and up the steps where they were met by a police line. There, Iraq veterans conducted a solemn ceremony to memorialize the U.S. soldiers and Iraqis killed in the war. Over 5,000 people then laid down in a symbolic “die-in” — one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in recent years.

One hundred ninety-seven people, including dozens of veterans and activists, were arrested when they tried to deliver their anti-war message to Congress and were stopped by the police. Among the arrested were Adam Kokesh, Liam Madden, Jeff Millard, and Garrett Reppenhagen of Iraq Veterans Against the War; Brian Becker, National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism); Ann Wright, former U.S. Army Colonel; Michael Prysner, Iraq war veteran and ANSWER activist in Florida; National Committee to Free the Cuban Five National Coordinator Gloria La Riva; and Eugene Puryear, Howard University student and National Coordinator of Youth & Student ANSWER. Police pepper-sprayed demonstrators without provocation.

This mass action came on the heels of the pro-war Petraeus report to Congress and Bush’s wholehearted endorsement of the report. Meanwhile, the war rages on, destroying Iraqi society. Nearly 4,000 U.S. solidiers and up to 1 million Iraqis have died since the U.S. invasion in March 2003.