Thousands Protest in Los Angeles against US War against Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, January 13, 2003

Thousands Protest in Los Angeles against US War against Iraq

About 3,000 anti-war activists took to the streets Saturday in the second largest US city of Los Angeles to protest the government's moving toward a war with Iraq.

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About 3,000 anti-war activists took to the streets Saturday in the second largest US city of Los Angeles to protest the government's moving toward a war with Iraq.

The demonstration was held just one day after US President George W. Bush ordered 35,000 more troops to be sent to the Gulf in intensified preparation for a war with Iraq.

Chanting anti-war slogans and upholding signs reading "War Is Not The Answer" and "Stop War," demonstrators marched through streets in downtown Los Angeles, causing severe traffic jams in the area.

The protesters were led by famed Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic,who was sitting in a wheelchair and whose autobiography "Born on the Fourth of July" has been made into a movie. He said he believed that the protest could mark the start of "one of the greatest anti-war movements in the history of the United States."

Other celebrities joining the demonstration included pop singerJackson Browne and Martin Sheen, who starred as the president in the NBC popular political drama "West Wing."

Bush was a major target for the demonstrators, who held signs calling him "war monger" and reading "Mr. Bush, don't repeat your daddy's mistakes," referring to the 1991 Gulf War launched by his father, then president George Bush.

Maria Negrete, 27 and a mother of three kids, said that although a war with Iraq might be inevitable, they weren't going to sit back without a nonviolent fight.

"There are going to be children like mine who will die for oil,which I think is crazy, stupid and dumb," Negrete said. "So I brought my sons, who are just as beautiful as any in Iraq."

Retired school teacher Bill Payne drove two hours from his homein Yucaipa to participate in the demonstration. "I don't want to see any kids killed. That's it," he said. "No kids in Iraq should be killed, no kids in any place should be killed."

Oscar Sanchez, an art student from El Salvador, rode a bicycle with a large cardboard military tank trailing behind. "By making it out of cardboard, I am showing that it can be discarded," Sanchez said.

Organizers said that additional anti-war demonstrations are scheduled to be held in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., next Saturday on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

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