M20 Action in Nevada City, CA

The morning after the invasion of Iraq was announced and bombs started falling over the Middle Eastern country's people, the little gold rush town of Nevada City (Northern California) knew its largest anti-war demonstration to date. On Thursday, March 20th, 2003, more than 700 anti-war demonstrators took to the streets to express their concern, outrage, solidarity and hopes for a better day. Demonstrators and law enforcement showed mutual respect and even the arrests of up to 40 people were done in an atmosphere of optimism and good, if somber, humor. At one point, after repeated warnings to the crowd, one of the police officers walked up to the core group of protesters, that were blocking all traffic in the town's main street, and announced, "Okay: we can only feed 40 people", to which the protesters responded with equally ironic comebacks, demanding in one instance a special vegan menu. The protest irritated some of the local business owners, and drew the attention of a small pro-war contingent (half a dozen people).