Flags flying in Hollywood

10,000 or so Angelenos turned out for a march from Hollywood & Vine to the CNN building to demand that CNN pay attention to the response of the people to the politicians' war.

After an hour or so of speeches at the CNN building -- which came along with frequent statements that "We would be there for a while and leave when we decided it was time to leave," we marched back to our starting point -- where Jim Lafferty of the Lawyer's Guild told us we'd just engaged in the "biggest act of civil disobedience in the history of Los Angeles." What I gather from all this is that the march permit didn't include as much time for speeches as was taken, and that the march back wasn't in there at all. And that means that the cops decided not to risk a riot and/or chaos by trying to shut the rally on. This would constitute a major improvement in tactics from police practices at the Democratic Convention!

After the rally I was waiting for a bus at Sunset & Vine, where a contingent of police were stationed, and I heard the call for support come over the radio because of the group staging a sit-in. A couple of the cops swore as they put on their riot helmets: Maybe they thought they'd get to go home soon; maybe they thought they'd get away without having any hassles. Poor cops. Well, this is what happens when the country goes to war: Things get messy, people's lives are disrupted. It's the least we can do.

The photo of the flags is from in front of the CNN building. The photo of the marchers is from the post-rally march. Considering we'd been out there for 3 hours plus, the fact that there were still at least 2500 people marching back -- after all the other rallies, marches and demonstrations this week -- shows incredible commitment on the part of the anti-war movement. And, if this war drags on like Bush promises it will, we're going to need to maintain that commitment, and be creative, keep ourselves informed, and keep the pressure on!