New York anti-Bush protest: United for Peace and Justice coalition estimated 400,000 people

by Grant McCool

NEW YORK - Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators toting colourful
banners and shouting "no more Bush" have taken to the streets of New York, the
day before the Republican convention is to open, to decry the U.S.-led war in
Iraq and President George W. Bush’s policies.

Organisers for United for Peace and Justice coalition estimated 400,000 people
marched for more than five hours in summer heat and humidity. Police declined
to estimate the size of the crowd, but it stretched out more than a mile (1.6
km) along two main avenues in central Manhattan.

"I am just burning with anger about what our country is doing," said protester
Cornelius Boss, an ex-Marine from Columbus, Ohio, about Bush’s foreign policy.

Police said there were more than 200 arrests during on Sunday, most unrelated to the march, but there was at least one clash between self-styled anarchists and police along the route. Three police officers were injured.

About 500 people have been arrested since anti-Bush protests began on Thursday when AIDS activists stood naked in front of Madison Square Garden.

Within an hour of the march ending, police arrested as many as 60 protesters who went to Times Square theatres to encounter Republican delegates. Thousands also gathered in Central Park in defiance of a city ban on a rally there, including a comic troupe of clown-faced soldiers in military green jumpsuits.

Hundreds of people lay on the grass in the park and formed a massive human peace sign.

Among the demonstrators in Times Square were "Queer Fist," a group of young gays and lesbians who took part in a "kiss-in" on the sidewalks of the theatre district. Police moved in and arrested them and put them in handcuffs outside a hotel.

In the march, people of all ages and demonstrating on a wide array of issues from the war, to health care, the environment and the economy, chanted, "Hey Ho, Hey Ho, Bush Has Got to Go."

CARNIVAL ATMOSPHERE

The peaceful crowd walked in a carnival atmosphere, banging drums and waving banners past the Madison Square Garden convention site. Republicans and other visitors arrived in the city for a four-day event where Bush will be nominated for another four-year term. He faces Democratic candidate Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts in the November 2 election.

"Some people say that it is not patriotic to protest but we’re taking back the flag because free speech and speaking out for what you believe in is patriotic," said Shana Berger, one of 14 people carrying a large U.S. flag in the march. "We do support the troops but we want them to come home now."

Thousands of police — many clad in riot gear, some on bicycles, others on horseback or on foot — monitored the large crowd. Protesters carried signs reading "Osama Loves Bush," "Bush Lies Who Dies?" and "Hate is not a Family Value."

A small group of masked anarchists set fire to a float just one block from the convention site and hurled bottles at police in riot gear who rushed them and made 15 arrests, police said.

UFPJ march organiser Leslie Cagan told Reuters that the event had gone "very, very well" and "people have come to protest the Bush administration on very many issues, but today we were united in speaking out against the Bush agenda."

Many held banners opposing the war in Iraq. The Bush administration said it invaded Iraq to rid Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction that threatened America’s security, but no stockpiles of weapons have been found.

"He (Bush) is ruining the country that I knew as a child growing up," said Joan Azulay, a retiree from Austin, Texas.

One group carried 1,000 coffins as a tribute to American soldiers dead in Iraq and to highlight what they see as the true cost of the war there.

Security around the arena has been called the tightest in the history of U.S. political events, with thousands of police officers and Secret Service agents on guard.

Streets were closed and concrete barriers put in place to deter truck bombs amid warnings from Washington that al Qaeda — the group responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks — or others might attack America before the November election.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=573574§ion=news