A PROTEST OF THOUSANDS MARCHERS OPPOSE IRAQ WAR ON STREETS OF DOWNTOWN L.A.Byline: EUGENE TONG Staff Writer For Ron Mudry, Saturday's march through downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or to protest the Iraq war Iraq War: see under Persian Gulf Wars. Iraq War or Second Persian Gulf War Brief conflict in 2003 between Iraq and a combined force of troops largely from the U.S. and Great Britain; and a subsequent U.S. and President George W. Bush's plan to send more troops was simply democracy in action. ``I want us to look like a true democracy that listens to the will of the people,'' said Mudry, 61, of Huntington Beach Huntington Beach, city (1990 pop. 181,519), Orange co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast, across from Santa Catalina Island, in an oil-producing area; inc. 1909. It manufactures aerospace vehicles, aircraft parts, optical instruments, and heat transfer equipment. , one of thousands of protesters who braved a drenching drenching farmer's term for the administration of medicines as solutions or suspensions in water by mouth with a drench bottle, gun or funnel. drenching bit to be included in a bridle as a bit. rain. ``I think this is a good example of what people are thinking.'' The demonstration, which included a rally outside the California Democratic Party The California Democratic Party is the local branch of the Democratic Party in the state of California. It is presently chaired by former State Senator Arthur Torres. It is the majority party in both chambers of the state Legislature, i.e. the State Assembly and the Senate. headquarters on Figueroa Street Figueroa Street is a street in Los Angeles County, California. It runs in a north/south direction for a length of more than 30 miles (48 km) between the Los Angeles communities of Eagle Rock and Wilmington. , drew more than 100 activists and anti-war groups from Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties. Organizers believe more than 5,000 took part, while Los Angeles police estimated a peak of about 1,800 before rain thinned out the crowd. Marchers were joined by peace activists Cindy Sheehan and Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic, who praised the crowd for standing up against the war. ``You have been so courageous these past four years,'' said Kovic, author of ``Born on the Fourth of July Fourth of July, Independence Day, or July Fourth, U.S. holiday, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Celebration of it began during the American Revolution. .'' ``We're not just going to stop this war, we're going to change their priorities. We're going to make a beautiful country.'' The march mirrored those in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, Sacramento and Denver in an effort to incite To arouse; urge; provoke; encourage; spur on; goad; stir up; instigate; set in motion; as in to incite a riot. Also, generally, in Criminal Law to instigate, persuade, or move another to commit a crime; in this sense nearly synonymous with abet. the Democratic-led Congress to end the war. Sheehan, who became an activist after her son, Casey, was killed in combat in 2004, said Bush's plan to send 21,000 more troops is a mistake. ``The president is irrelevant, and he needs to be stopped. Congress are the only people that can stop him,'' she said. Roger Salazar of the California Democratic Party said Democrats in Congress were trying to change Bush's mind. ``Even with a congressional resolution, the president ultimately has the veto power on these things,'' Salazar said from Sacramento. Los Angeles protesters carried signs and 40 mock coffins draped drape v. draped, drap·ing, drapes v.tr. 1. To cover, dress, or hang with or as if with cloth in loose folds: draped the coffin with a flag; a robe that draped her figure. with U.S. flags symbolizing the more than 3,000 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. Gustavo Ramirez, 34, one of the coffin-bearers, said he was marching for Sergio Gudino, a 21-year-old Army specialist from Pomona who was killed by a roadside bomb Dec. 25, 2005. ``I'm here for our friends,'' he said. ``I'm here for our brave soldiers. ... We will bring our troops home. We will bring peace.'' A dozen Iraq veterans from the group Iraq Veterans Against the War Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) is an advocacy group comprised of active duty military and Iraq War veterans who are opposed to the U.S. occupation of Iraq. The organization advocates immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces in Iraq, reparations for the destruction and led the procession. Jabbar Magruder, 24, of Northridge -- stationed in Tikrit in 2004-05 with the 140th Aviation Battalion -- stood among them. ``It's patriotic to bring our troops home,'' he said. ``We don't need them to be in harm's way. I'm absolutely sure they're waiting for their orders to come home.'' Sgt. Jason Lemieux, 23, of Anaheim, who has completed three tours as a Marine in Iraq since 2003, said he doubted the war from the beginning. ``We just don't have any good ideas,'' said Lemieux, who now believes the war can't be won by force. ``The people we're fighting are the people of Iraq. ``Every time we kill one person, we get three insurgents Insurgents, in U.S. history, the Republican Senators and Representatives who in 1909–10 rose against the Republican standpatters controlling Congress, to oppose the Payne-Aldrich tariff and the dictatorial power of House speaker Joseph G. Cannon. . ... It's over. We lost. Let's bring our troops home before any more are killed.'' City News Service contributed to this report. eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com (818) 546-3304 CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Nurjahan Bruce, wearing a makeshift American flag mask, calls for peace from the stage during the Los Angeles rally after Saturday's anti-war march. For more photos, go to dailynews.com. (2 -- color) A woman wears an anti-Bush statement on her hat during Saturday's anti-war march in downtown Los Angeles. Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer |
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