A broad range of antiwar protesters completely surrounded the White House in a wide perimeter after Rev. Jesse Jackson, Jr. negotiated a solution to a tense standoff with Washington, DC police who were blocking the protesters from following the permitted parade route. International Answer, the organization that sponsored the demonstration, announced from the speakers-stage an attendance of 150,000 and most activists at the march agreed there were over 100,000 people present. #file_1#

A rally held before the march included, among many other speakers, Rev. Jackson, Al Sharpton, Medea Benjamen, and Ramsey Clark. The speakers decried the expense of a potential war in Iraq and suggested the money be used for domestic programs instead. They also spoke of the solidarity of people around the world in opposition to the proposed war.

In contrast with the anti-IMF and World Bank protests held in DC in September, there was approximately equal representation of young adult and middle-aged activists. There were also sizable numbers of younger and older protesters, including about 20 students from a single suburban-DC high school, Montgomery Blair.

Earlier in the day, about 500 protesters marched about 4 miles from Colombia Heights to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to join the main march, stopping along the way to cheer a group of Cardoza High School students who were planting a peace garden and to take off their shirts in front of the Washington Post. Activists criticized the Post for what they see as slanted pro-war and anti-activist reporting and demanded "Propaganda for peace, not for war." The theme of the feeder march was President George Bush was "taking the shirts off our backs to pay for the war on Iraq."
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