Pictures from anti-war protests Thursday, March 20, 2003 in San Francisco, CA

My entire office closed down on Thursday, March 20, 2003 so that everyone could take part in the protests against the war on Iraq. I bought a disposable camera and my co-worker and I were on the streets of San Francisco from 10:00am to 4:00pm. These pictures document our day and show the protest as we saw it -- at times beautiful and at times sad, but always an American experience, as there is hardly anything more American to let your true voice be heard in spite of strong opposition and social pressure to keep quiet and go with the status quo. From what I saw that day, the protests were entirely peaceful and the only property damange I saw was a couple "NO WAR" slogans spray painted on a couple walls. The level of police presence was unwarranted and seemed to only create tension and a sense of danger where none would have existed otherwise. I saw no overt police brutality, but was hyper aware of their presence and the danger that presented to me, eventhough I was not doing and had no intention of doing anything violent or destructive. I would have gone out another day, but after viewing the disgustingly negative and skewed news reports about the protests on the nightly news, I lost a little heart. No matter how positive the people's message is and no matter how hard they try to get that across in a peaceful and respectful manner, the media will almost always concentrate solely on the negative aspects. I doubt I have to go into my reasons for opposing the war, as anyone who is actually viewing this already has their own reasons and those who support the war seem to be dedicated to remaining deaf and blind to our outcry for justice and peace. Stay strong out there and stay positive.