Fear Not, The Baltimore County Anti-War Movement has Arrived!

History was made today in Towson, MD.

If the President thinks that his war is going to go off as planned, he must be living with his eyes closed. Today over 300 demonstrators braved the freezing cold rain and the "code orange terror alert" and SHUT DOWN Towson to protest the War in Iraq. Numerous school walk-outs converged at the the traffic circle in downtown Towson at around 1:00 PM. Memebers of the Towson Anti-war Coalition, Goucher Peace and Justice League, Now or Never, and students who walked out from Towson High School, Loch Raven High School, Carver High School, Dulaney High School, Essex Community College, UMBC, Poly, Gilman, Cockeysville Middle School, as well as teachers and professors and members of the local community marched through towson for over 2 hours today, without arrests, vandalism, or violence.

A non-permitted snake march began from the circle and headed down Alleghany Ave. from the circle, turning at each streets and winding it's way past the Old Courthouse where the County Council (who refuses to sponsor an anti-war resolution) watched it go by. The march then spilled onto Bosley Ave, shutting it down entirely. At this point, nearly every major road in Towson was at a near standstill. The march headed to York Road, turning left and storming the parkinglot and main entrance of Carver High School, where students were threatened with suspension and/or expulsion for participating in any walk-out. Most Carver students stayed inside of their school, but threw peace signs out of the windows. One student rushed out of Carver and joined the crowd to a huge display of cheers!

The march then continued down Fairmount, where York Road was jammed with cars trying to continure through the circle, which was shortly taken over again. A rally was held at the circle at this point, and speakers from most of the schools and groups represented had a chance to tell the crowd where they came from and other thought they had about the day's actions and the war. The group dispersed at about 3:30.

This was the most amazing experience I've had in Towson that I can remember. I never imagined we could get this many people in the streets! The great thing was that no one was in charge, no one was making orders or anything to that matter, everyone knew what we needed to do and we did it....WE SHUT DOWN TOWSON!

This is not the end of this at all. We will mobilize again, throwing together all our organizing skills and joining together in massive coalitions and take this further. We have so much momentum right now, both locally and nationally, and we can lead this county and this entire state in an anti-war movement that WILL stop this war.

I call on all of you who attended, and all of those who are reading this now and could not make it, to organize your school, your friends, and your community! We can do this again, and we can make it twice as big, and twice as strong! There is no end to it now...We have kicked off a HUGE local movement. Please visit www.towsonantiwar.org and email us to let us know about your group and find out about our meeting times, etc. We NEED to join together all our efforts and make this thing grow even larger!

And remember, the war is already over, we just need to let the rest of the world know.


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Don't forget about tomorrow night's TAWC benefit show:

ROCK AGAINST THE WAR
Friday, March 21st.
Doors open between 6:30 and 7:00
Be prompt!

-Opening act currently undetermined
-2 AM Revolution
-Soma Solution
-The Code
-Parallax
-Wake up on Fire

Ascension Lutheran Church
7601 York Road, Towson
(near York and Stevenson)

All Ages!
3 dollars at the door!
No drugs or alcohol
All proceeds benefit the Towson Anti-war Coalition!
www.towsonantiwar.org



In my young life I have seen many protests, and have helped organize many in this area, but today was just the most wonderful thing that Towson could see. We we're unstoppable!

PEACE AND THANK YOU FOR AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE!!!

-Ryan