Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Protests mark the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq

  • Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. - A group of about 20 to 30 people carrying torches and banners that proclaimed "NO WAR BUT CLASS WAR" and "IT'S ON" attacked the Army recruitment center on Oakland Avenue near the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus Monday night. Windows were broken and paint, smoke bombs and possibly feces was thrown inside the building.

    Police detained and cited 21 people for disorderly conduct, but may press more serious charges later. At least three of the demonstrators were in their early teens with the youngest being 13 years old.

  • Lansing, Michigan, U.S. - The Michigan Avenue office of U.S. Representative Mike Rogers was vandalized Monday night. Rogers is a Republican who has consistently supported President George Bush and the war in Iraq. Two security cameras were damaged, door locks were glued shut and paint was sprayed and spattered on the building and sidewalk. Rogers' "Support Our Troops" sign was splattered with blood-red paint, and a hand-painted sign was plastered to a window, reading: "ROGERS THERE IS BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS." Police are looking into the incident.

  • Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S. - Another Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan received a visit from anti-war demonstrators over the weekend. Anarchists and other protesters marched to the home of Vern Ehlers, where they shouted that Ehlers is a war criminal and taped a large message by his front door calling on him to stop supporting the war.

  • New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S. - Following a student walkout at Rutgers University 400 anti-war protesters took to the streets of the downtown shopping district and blocked a Marine recruitment station Monday. The throng of demonstrators then blocked rush hour traffic on the south bound lanes of Route 18 . Police observed from a distance and halted traffic but made no arrests during the three hour long protest.


Washington D.C.

  • Elswhere - Other protests, many of which targeted military recruiters, were held in cities and towns such as Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, Illinois, Lawrence, Kansas, Portland, Oregon and dozens more across the country.

    Globally activists held hundreds of protests. A massive demonstration of what was estimated to have included tens of thousands to as many 400,000 people shut down most of Spain's capital city Madrid. Istanbul, Turkey saw thousands of protesters take to the streets there. In Hungary, some 2,000 anti-war demonstrators carrying torches marched in the capital Budapest.