Global protests against war on Iraq
Thousands of small and large global protests against war in general or the U.S. plan to invade Iraq were held in 2003 and 2004, voicing popular opposition to war on Iraq. This page informs about the most visible of those protest actions (in reverse chronological order, newest first). For editing and reading convenience, it has been split. Here you can find information about protests after the official start of the war, but see also Global protests against war on Iraq (pre-war) for protests before the invasion started officially.
In New York, USA, peace activists blocked Fifth Avenue. 200 people were brought to jail after a die-in in front of the Rockefeller Center. In Bogotá, Colombia there were violent conflicts in front of the US consulate. Protest marches and demonstrations happened also in Algiers, Algeria and in Bahrain, the Palestinian territories, South Korea, Indonesia and Pakistan. In Australia the police prevented protest marches. In Germany, protests by school pupils continued.
In the Islamic country of Bangladesh, 60,000 people demonstrated.
Media also reports protests in front of the South Korean parliament building, linked to plans to bring South Korean forces into the war. In reaction to the protests, these plans were halted.
In the afternoon, 50,000 people protested peacefully in Leipzig following traditional prayers for peace in the city's Nikolai Church. Prayers for peace and subsequent large demonstrations at that church every Monday ('Montagsdemos') helped bring down the GDR government in East Germany in 1989. The weekly demonstrations, supported by churches, trade unions and other civic organizations, began again in January 2003 in protest to the impending invasion of Iraq.
Protest marches in the afternoon were also reported in the Geman cities of Berlin and Freiburg.
In Rome, Milano, Turin and other Italian cities, thousands of pupils and schoolteachers stayed away from school to protest against the Iraq war. The teachers union reported that 60 percent of all schools were closed. The strike had been planned weeks ago as a signal against a school reform bill, but was converted to an anti-war protest.
400 anti-war protesters tried to enter the Australian parliament in Canberra to speak to the prime minister, but were stopped by police.
In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, Maoist protesters attacked shops selling Coke and US soft drinks. Protests in front of US buildings and in fast food shops were also held in Indonesia.
In Egypt, 12,000 students of two universities in Cairo protested as well as 3,000 people in the Thai capital Bangkok.
In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 150 people threw stones at the United States consulate. The stones were supposed to break the windows, but consulate windows are bulletproof. The protesters attacked a McDonald's and stoned and fired against a Brazilian bank agency controlled by the Brazilian government and stoned a Spanish bank. Five were arrested.
250,000 protesters demonstrated in New York, USA according to the German Spiegel online magazine. There were protests in Washington, D.C, Chicago and other cities, too. CNN reported a march of over a thousand protesters in Atlanta, Georgia passed by their headquarters, upset over that network's coverage of the war.
Canada likewise experienced numerous anti-war protests over the weekend. Crowds of anti-war demonstrators took to the streets of Montreal and Toronto. Calgary held three days of protests (March 20-22nd), culminating in a march which surrounded the government building and American consulate.
There were reports about massive conflicts between protesters and police in the Gulf state of Bahrain for the second day.
On the live broadcast of the 2003 Academy Awards, several presenters and recipients made various comments against the war ranging from Susan Sarandon giving a simple peace sign to Michael Moore publicly denouncing George W. Bush upon receiving his award. Critics accused the media of downplaying the demonstrations, e.g. when the Washington Post wrote about protests in Berlin: "Demonstrators also gathered in a half-dozen other German cities", where half-dozen included Leipzig, Halle, Dresden, Jena, Rostock, Hamburg, Munich, Köln, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Nürnberg, Stuttgart, Wiesbaden, Karslruhe, Heidelberg, Würzburg, Bielefeld, Hannover, Dortmund, Essen, Bochum, Gelsenkirchen, Wattenscheid, Oberhausen, Duisburg, Mülheim, Herne, Hattingen, Velbert, Hilden, Datteln, Münster, Osnabrück, Bonn, Aachen, Saarbrücken, Kassel, Bremen, Oldenburg, Kiel, Heide, etc.
Following the demonstrations, San Francisco police claimed to have discovered a cache of molotov cocktails which they claimed were going to be used by demonstrators.
Demonstrations occurred in many cities across the U.S. In some cities — including Washington, D.C, Chicago, San Francisco, New York and Portland, Oregon — demonstrators blocked traffic in the city centers with the goal of shutting the cities down, resulting in the arrests of over 2,000 people nationwide. Other cities, such as Boston, Atlanta, Georgia, and Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, demonstrations were more peaceful, while in still other cities, people engaged in counter-demonstrations in support of the war.
Approximately 300 protesters demonstrated outside of the federal building in San Francisco, California. Many of the protesters apparently began vomiting on the sidewalks and plaza areas in front of the building and behind the building. Spokesmen told reporters that it was the protesters way of saying that war in Iraq "made them sick."
Over 100 protesters were arrested in Philadelphia after blocking the entrances to the federal office buildings.
In the morning of March 20, 2003, school students all over Germany held spontaneous marches in Berlin (20,000 participants), Munich (15,000), Stuttgart (15,000), Freiburg (10,000) and Kassel (5,000). Actions started also in Heidelberg, Frankfurt, Leipzig and Nuremberg. Some students reported that their teachers and principals had tried to prevent them from doing so. In Munich, students gathered in front of the university and then marched to the U.S consulate where they demanded that the American flag be lowered in honor of the killed Iraqi civilians. They walked to the central place of Munich afterwards, where the demonstration turned into a mixture of party and protest. The protests in most other cities were similar.
In Switzerland, 40,000 demonstrated. In Italy, the public services union announced a strike. In Cairo, Egypt, 4,000 people protested; protesters burned a U.S. flag and riot police outnumbered the protesters.
On Luxembourg, Tageblatt newspaper reported about 15,000 students walking out of school, with those in the capital holding a spontaneous protest march to the American embassy.
In the afternoon, the general population followed the students. In Berlin, 60,000 people protested; some 200,000 people joined protests in Germany that day. In Paris, 20,000 people met in front of the American embassy. In Greece, 150,000 people protested.
In London, England, demonstrators carried signs with photos of Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair with the caption "World's Biggest Terrorists"; Blair was also called a "Bliar." Two people scaled Big Ben, standing for hours below the clock's face with a sign reading "Time for Truth."
Daily protest information
June 27, 2004
About 40,000 demonstrated against the visit of George W. Bush to the NATO summit in Istanbul, about 6,000 in Ankara, Turkey.
June 5, 2004
More than 12,000 people, many U.S. citizens, demonstrated against Bush and the Iraq war during his visit to Paris, France.June 4, 2004
More than 100,000 people demonstrated in Rome and other Italian cities during Bush's visit to Pope John Paul II, who had expressed his opposition to the war in numerous occasions. Ten thousand police patroled the conference site. The right-wing Italian government under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had supported the war; Italy's largest electric company, Enel, which is 60 percent owned by the government, forced Radio CittÃÂ Aperta and Radio Onda Rossa off the air as they were preparing to broadcast extensive coverage of street protests against Bush's visit.October 25, 2003
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Washington, D.C, San Francisco, California, Reno, Nevada and other cities around the world, in opposition to the occupation of Iraq. Protestors also advocated for the return of American troops to the United States, and for the protection of civil liberties.
April 7, 2003
In Oakland, California, police fired rubber bullets and beanbags at protesters and dockworkers outside the port, injuring at least a dozen demonstrators and six longshoremen standing nearby. Most of the 500 demonstrators were dispersed peacefully, but a crowd of demonstrators was blocking traffic on private property near the port and fail to disperse after police warnings. Oakland Police Chief said demonstrators also threw objects and bolts at them, and said the use of weapons was necessary to disperse the crowd. He indicated that the rubber bullets were used to respond to direct illegal action and the he longshoremen were caught in the crossfire. A dockworker spokesman reported that police gave two minutes to disperse, then opened fire rather than making arrests. Demonstrators also claim that the police took direct aim at them, rather than firing in the air or at the ground. Thirty-one people were arrested.
March 29, 2003
In Boston, Massachusetts 50,000 people attended the largest rally in the city since the end of the Vietnam War. Thousands of people blocked Boylston Street in a die-in along the Boston Common. A handful of arrests were made.
March 28, 2003
Global protests did not stop in the second week of war. For example, there was a protest of some 10,000 Iranians in Teheran, Iran, endorsed by the government. 50,000 to 80,000 people protested in Cairo, Egypt after the Friday prayers.March 25, 2003
Some 100,000 people demonstrated in Syria against the USA, United Kingdom and Israel. This protest was endorsed by the Syrian government.March 24, 2003
Media reports state at least 20,000 school pupils protesting in Hamburg, Germany. After the protest march, conflicts between police and protesters broke out in front of a US building in Hamburg. Protesters who were pushed back by the police began to throw stones, who in turn reacted with water cannons. There have since been serious discussions about police abuses in Hamburg, and political ramnifications may follow. March 22-23, 2003
Media report about 150,000 protesters in Barcelona, Spain (other sources say 1,000,000); more than 100,000 (other sources: up to 500,000) protesters in London, United Kingdom; some 100,000 protesters in Paris, France; at least 150,000 protesters altogether in many German cities; between 35,000 and 90,000 in Lisbon, Portugal; 10,000 to 20,000 in Greece, Denmark, Switzerland and Finland. March 21, 2003
Demonstrations were organized for a second day in a row in various US cities including: Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Atlanta, Georgia; San Francisco; and Los Angeles. In the last two cities, demonstrators closed parts of the city to traffic.March 20, 2003
The day after the invasion of Iraq had begun, thousands of protests and demonstrations around the world were held.
Seven demonstrators were arrested after attempting to block about 20 federal employees and other visitors trying to enter the building. Pre-war protests
The 2003 war on Iraq is said to be the first war with massive global protests before its start. More about these pre-war protests can be found on Global protests against war on Iraq (pre-war).
Common slogans and chants
Common slogans and chants at the protests include:
See also
External links