Peaceful protest Anti-war march draws 1,000 activists to Augusta

A call to end the fighting in Iraq and to return American troops home were clear messages Saturday as approximately 1,000 peace activists rallied outside the Capitol building for “The Global Day of Protest” on the one-year anniversary of the war in Iraq.

Huge peace and anti-war signs erected near the State House served as backdrops for the gathering, which lasted about an hour and a half. A trailer covered with plywood was decorated with a field of miniature white crosses to symbolize U.S. soldiers killed in the war since March 2003.

By noon, the grounds outside the State House had filled with protesters. Scores of placards waved in the air bearing anti-war slogans, including “Thou Shalt Not Kill, Nor Bear False Witness (Except for Oil & Corp. Profit),” “They Knew, They Lied, 10,000 Died.” “Impeach!” “Prosecute!” A sea of flags signaling peace flapped in the breeze, among a few American flags.

When the rally opened, guest speaker Richard Clement of Pittston told the crowd, “Our troops were sent into an illegal war, a war built on lies of the greatest magnitude – weapons of mass destruction, chemical weapons, links to al-Qaida, imminent threat to homeland America – all lies.

“They [U.S. troops] were sent there against the wishes and opinions of the majority of the citizens of the world,” Clement said.

Clement, a kitchen worker at Togus Veterans Affairs Medical and Regional Office Center, and his wife, Rita, have a personal stake in the war. Their 21-year-old son, Brian, is in the U.S. Army headed for Iraq.

As parents and members of Military Families Speak Out, the couple urged people not to sit quietly by as their son and other people’s children join the massive troop rotation taking place one year after the fighting in Iraq began.

“We will march, we will write to our congressmen and women. We will perform acts of civil disobedience and our voices will be heard,” Richard Clement said. “Our voices will surely be heard this November. This November we must show the world that we do not believe in George Bush’s America.”

Camden attorney Lynne Williams, who scored a temporary victory on Friday in U.S. District Court in Portland regarding the Saturday march, said rally organizers had paid a permit fee in order to hold Saturday’s event. Williams, who represented March for Truth organizer Tim Sullivan, sought a temporary restraining order against an Augusta ordinance that requires some protesters to obtain expensive event insurance or an indemnity bond before a march permit is issued.

Although the federal court struck down the city’s ordinance as unconstitutional, the ruling was for a temporary restraining order, Williams said. The case will continue for a permanent ruling, she said, and will seek an indigence provision.

Among the hundreds of anti-war activists was former U.S. Marine John Shirrefs of East Holden, who served in Vietnam more than three decades ago and has protested war since his return to the United States in 1970. At 53, he continues to oppose such violence.

“It’s a useless expense of human lives. … The cycle of violence [in war] gets perpetuated just like any other cycle of violence,” he said.

“What do we have to look forward to? More veterans?” he asked.

Behind a banner for the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom was 75-year-old Christine DeTroy of Brunswick, who said she knows the pains of war from the experience of growing up in Germany during World War II.

“That is a lifelong lesson,” she said, pointing to “the brutality of war, especially on civilians. They are not counting the dead Iraqis. If we did, we would be totally shocked.”

DeTroy said she believes World War II could have been prevented if people were more aware and courageous, and had spoken out against the government.

“We should be at a point with reasoning and knowledge to avoid war,” she said.

A “March for Truth” down Western Avenue circled back to the State House after passing the Edmund S. Muskie Federal Building where a couple of hundred people supporting U.S. troops waved American flags of all sizes. One supporter’s sign read: “Thank a Veteran for Your Right to Protest!”

The sound of beating drums welcomed marchers back to the rally site, where speaker Barbara Burt of Common Cause, a national citizen advocacy organization, talked about holding politicians accountable.

Americans need to end the “inside game” of “backroom deal-making,” she said. “It is the opposite of democracy.

“Make no mistake, this war was about money and oil,” Burt said. “The only power that can overcome money is the power of the vote.”

Several anti-war protesters’ signs suggested the United States should get out of the war and the United Nations should step in.

If democracy is supported at home and abroad, “people take control of their own destinies,” said Greg Field, executive director of Peace Action Maine in Portland.

Resources should be devoted to finding alternatives to war, such as conflict resolution and diplomacy, rather than missile systems, Field said.

“Give peace and negotiations a chance,” he said.