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LOCAL News :: Protest Activity
Baltimoreans Take to the Streets Protesting the War: Downtown Protest
During the afternoon, more than 300 students shut down the central business area in Towson. In the evening, another 300 protested downtown, one group at the War Memorial Plaza, another snaking its way through the streets of the Inner Harbor area, stalling traffic.
About 300 people gathered at War Memorial Plaza at 5pm to protest the war. This was organized by the Iraq Pledge of Resistance and was the originally announced emergency demonstration. At around 5:30, a group split off and began marching around downtown Baltimore, occasionally blocking traffic. The breakaway march returned to War Memorial Plaza around 6:30pm. No arrests reported.
The "snake march," facilitated by the All Peoples Congress, Coalition against Global Exploitation, Left Turn, Roundhouse Collective, and SUSTAIN, left the War Memorial Plaza area at 5:30pm moving towards the Inner Harbor where it intermittently blocked traffic at intersections.
About 125 protesters marched south to Pratt Street where some pulled out orange street cones and plastic barrels which, along with their bodies, were used to stall traffic until police, in the grab of Baltimore City Police Department's Quick Response Team appeared. Protesters would then march to the sidewalks, leaving the orange objects for police to move. A few confrontations between police and protesters occurred with police use force a few times.
The protesters, led by individuals with a "Fund Education, Not War!" banner, chanted "No blood for oil!", "What do you say, Baltimore? We don't want your fucking war", "Two, four, six eight. Tell the people who we hate. Bush, Cheney, the whole damn state!". A chant of "Police against the war! Police against the war!" even brought one younger officer to laugh apparently in support.
Along the way, Indymedia spoke to Randy Chase, a veteran of many protests, who compared the current situation to Germany in the 1930s. Emphasizing the importance of speaking out, Chase, who is of German descent, said "If we don't do something, we'll burn in hell, like Germany in the 1930s." Using religious metaphor, he noted he was not of a particular affiliation. But Chase's sentiment echoed that of Pastor Niemoeller, a victim of Nazism, who wrote "First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out--because I was not a Jew....Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak out for me."
We also spoke to Caitlin Webster, a sophomore studying acting at University of Maryland Baltimore County. This was Webster's first protest. She thinks Bush is "leading the United States into an unjust war." Saddam Hussein's regime may be brutal and authoritarian, but "how is Hussein a greater threat than others, such as, North Korea," she asked. Webster sees Bush motivated by "greed, oil, and revenge" about the alleged assassination attempt on Bush's father. Webster believes she sees enough of factors to justify her protest today, the bottom line being that there "should not be the killing of innocent civilians."
The march worked its way to the Federal Court at Hanover and Lombard Streets, then returned to the War Memorial Plaza by 6:30pm where it met a line of police along Gay Street and eventually dispersed. No arrests reported, though there was a curious photographer who selectively took photos and seemed connected to police.
The "snake march," facilitated by the All Peoples Congress, Coalition against Global Exploitation, Left Turn, Roundhouse Collective, and SUSTAIN, left the War Memorial Plaza area at 5:30pm moving towards the Inner Harbor where it intermittently blocked traffic at intersections.
About 125 protesters marched south to Pratt Street where some pulled out orange street cones and plastic barrels which, along with their bodies, were used to stall traffic until police, in the grab of Baltimore City Police Department's Quick Response Team appeared. Protesters would then march to the sidewalks, leaving the orange objects for police to move. A few confrontations between police and protesters occurred with police use force a few times.
The protesters, led by individuals with a "Fund Education, Not War!" banner, chanted "No blood for oil!", "What do you say, Baltimore? We don't want your fucking war", "Two, four, six eight. Tell the people who we hate. Bush, Cheney, the whole damn state!". A chant of "Police against the war! Police against the war!" even brought one younger officer to laugh apparently in support.
Along the way, Indymedia spoke to Randy Chase, a veteran of many protests, who compared the current situation to Germany in the 1930s. Emphasizing the importance of speaking out, Chase, who is of German descent, said "If we don't do something, we'll burn in hell, like Germany in the 1930s." Using religious metaphor, he noted he was not of a particular affiliation. But Chase's sentiment echoed that of Pastor Niemoeller, a victim of Nazism, who wrote "First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out--because I was not a Jew....Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak out for me."
We also spoke to Caitlin Webster, a sophomore studying acting at University of Maryland Baltimore County. This was Webster's first protest. She thinks Bush is "leading the United States into an unjust war." Saddam Hussein's regime may be brutal and authoritarian, but "how is Hussein a greater threat than others, such as, North Korea," she asked. Webster sees Bush motivated by "greed, oil, and revenge" about the alleged assassination attempt on Bush's father. Webster believes she sees enough of factors to justify her protest today, the bottom line being that there "should not be the killing of innocent civilians."
The march worked its way to the Federal Court at Hanover and Lombard Streets, then returned to the War Memorial Plaza by 6:30pm where it met a line of police along Gay Street and eventually dispersed. No arrests reported, though there was a curious photographer who selectively took photos and seemed connected to police.
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