LA Anti-War Protest: at least 20,000

Los Angeles, Ca. January 11, 2003.

Probably the largest demonstration in Los Angeles since the Vietnam war era, thousands marched for peace and against the Bush Adminstration's policies of agression and war.

Estimates of the crowd vary, but it is clear that at least 20,000 people were present. Other estimates range as high as 40-50,000. The march was spirited and full of people of all ages and different political backgrounds. There were no reports of police violence against the crowd as of yet.

Speakers ranged from activists to actors with a message of peace and against war in Iraq. There was strong and vocal outrage against the Bush Administrations attack on civil liberties; from INS detainments, the PATRIOT Act, and FBI surviellance to the continued lies fed to the mainstream press by the US State Department and the erosion of a real discourse on the issues of war and imperialism.

With this many in the streets in Los Angeles prior to the start of a war, and the massive demonstrations expected next week in San Francisco and Washington D.C., the message is clear: if the Bush Adminstration starts a war with Iraq, hundreds of thousands of people will resist. The illegitimate president Bush can expect a nonstop antiwar movement against his administration.

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