2,500 rally at Capitol for peace
Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
AUGUSTA — A crowd estimated by organizers as 2,500 strong marched through a steady cold rain to rally against war Saturday.
Staff photo by JIM EVANSProponents of peace march in the constant rain Saturday to the state Capitol for a rally. click to enlarge
They were carrying soggy signs emblazoned with such slogans as "War is Terrorism," "No Blood for Oil," "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind" and "They're selling war —we're not buying."
The protesters marched from Buker School, down Capitol Street to a spot between the State House and the statue of Samantha Smith, the Manchester girl known as an advocate for world peace.
The protest mirrored similar peace rallies that took place across the nation and overseas, including one which, protesters said, drew 100,000 people into Washington, D.C.
"I want to thank George W. Bush for getting us all out here today — for waking up the American people," said Louise Diamond, one of several speakers and cofounder of a Washington, D.C., group that works to resolve ethnic and regional conflicts around the world. "We're addicted to violence as a way of life as a culture. We need to say yes to walking the peace path, instead of the warpath."
During the march, police closed off one lane of travel for the marchers. The line stretched from the top of the hill near the state Department of Transportation garage back to the sharp Capitol Street corner just below Buker School.
Police estimated about 2,000 participated in the march and at least part of the rally.
But even that estimate sounded low to at least one activist.
"That 2,500 sounds to me like a mainstream media estimate," said Dud Hendrick, a 1963 Naval Academy graduate who served in Vietnam from 1966 to 1967 and is now a board member of the Maine Chapter of Veterans For Peace. "It looks like 10,000 people out there."
Hendrick criticized Bush for pursuing what he said was a doctrine of taking pre-emptive military strikes anywhere Bush sees a threat.
"As a veteran, I'm asking you to do all you can to ensure your sons and daughters do not serve in this war."
Tom Jackson, an activist/ filmaker who produced "Greetings from Missile Street," a documentary showing Iraqi citizens struggling to survive under economic sanctions, said modern warfare has the heaviest impact on children.
"The children of Iraq and Afghanistan have just as much value as ours do here in the United States," Jackson said. He said people should consider not paying federal taxes so they can't be used to support war.
Musicians played songs between the speakers at the event.
Augusta Police, assisted by officers from the Kennebec Sheriff's Office and State Police, made one arrest, but said the event, overall, took place smoothly.
"It really went well —everybody was pretty well behaved," said Augusta Police Lt. Keith Brann. "One arrest for a crowd that large is pretty good. They're good people. They were easy to work with."
The single arrest occurred on State Street, as a group of 60 to 70 protesters left the rally and marched in the middle of the street, Brann said, toward Memorial Circle.
Brann said State Street, which had been closed to cars and trucks for the march, had been reopened to traffic by that time. So police told the crowd to move to the sidewalk.
At least one protester refused and was arrested for failure to disperse. Arrested was David Webb, 29, of Rockland.
The crowd — made more colorful by the variety of rain gear worn — included participants of many ages. Youths sporting dreadlocks marched alongside leather-clad Vietnam veterans and bespectacled senior citizens. Several participants pounded on drums and chanted antiwar slogans as they marched.
Keith Edwards — 621-5647 kedwards@centralmaine.com