Over 10,000 Protesters at ANSWER's DC Demonstration

Thousands of other protestors never
made it past Secret Service Checkpoints

For Immediate Release: January 20, 2005

Contact: Bill Hackwell
202-544-3389, cell: 415-269-7917

Over 10,000 protestors from around the country converged on John
Marshall Park in Washington DC today bringing a powerful antiwar
message to the presidential inauguration of George Bush. Demonstrators
filled the sidewalks in front of the park between 3rd and 4th Streets.
The first thing that Bush saw as the presidential motorcade began the
parade route was antiwar protestors lined 10 deep along the side walks
and in antiwar bleachers. Atop the bleachers was a giant banner that
said, "Iraq is Bush's Vietnam, Bring the Troops Home
Now." It was the first time in inaugural history that the
antiwar movement was able to have bleachers, a stage, and a sound
system for a mass antiwar demonstration right on the parade route.
Thousands more demonstrators stopped at the A.N.S.W.E.R. rally site
and picked up signs and were able to line both sides of Pennsylvania
Avenue from 3rd to 7th Streets. Many protestors were stopped at
security checkpoints and not allowed into the A.N.S.W.E.R. rally.
Organizers from 30 cities took the platform to announce their plans to
organize local demonstrations on March 19, 2005, the second
anniversary of the start of the U.S. "shock and awe"
invasion of Iraq.

Speakers included: Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney from Georgia; former
U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark; Brian Becker, National Coordinator
of the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition; Brenda Stokley, President of District
Council 7017 AFSCME; Zack Wolfe, chair of the
Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Committee of the National Lawyers
Guild; Michael Berg, father of Nicholas Berg; John Boyd of the
National Black Farmers Association; Macrina Cardenas, Mexico
Solidarity Network; Vanessa Dixon, DC Health Care Coalition; Sue
Neiderer, mother of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq; Celeste Zappala,
mother of Sherwood Baker, National Guardsmen killed in Iraq; and
Nathlie Hrizi of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five. The
program was chaired by A.N.S.W.E.R. youth and student organizers Peta
Lindsay and Eugene Puryear.

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A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
1247 E St. SE Washington DC 20003
(202) 544-3389 Fax: (202) 544-9359
http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org
http://www.CounterInaugural.org