[mgj-discuss] Montreal Gazette on A20

[Denis]

Copyright 2002 CanWest Interactive, a division of
CanWest Global Communications Corp.
All Rights Reserved  
Montreal Gazette 
April 21, 2002 Sunday Final Edition

SECTION: News; Pg. A7

LENGTH: 504 words 

HEADLINE: All this and cheerleaders, too: Demonstrators of many varied sorts
fill the streets of the U.S. capital

SOURCE: Cox News Service

BYLINE: BOB DART and WILLIAM WAN

DATELINE: WASHINGTON

BODY: 
As disparate demonstrations crowded the nation's capital yesterday, a
collage of causes coalesced into a plaintive outcry against U.S. support of
Israel. 
"We are all Palestinian" was the message shouted from podiums and displayed
on stickers slapped on to the shoulders and chests of tens of thousands of
protesters. 
Organizers proclaimed the day-long rally as the largest pro-Palestinian
demonstration in U.S. history. But it included anarchists,
environmentalists, anti-globalists and other activists who had come to
protest everything from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to a
U.S. army school for Latin American soldiers at Fort Benning, Ga. There was
a general denunciation of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, of
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and of the U.S. arming of Israel.
The gathering was peaceful. The crowd was colourful. There were women whose
faces and hair were hidden by scarves and others with bare midriffs and
tight T-shirts bearing messages such as "Hottie."
There were men wearing Bermuda shorts and pushing their children in
strollers and ominous others wearing all black with their faces covered by
bandanas. 
"I wanted to be a part of this because I'm concerned about the policies of
this administration - not only in Palestine but in the Philippines and
elsewhere," said Scott Bradford of Atlanta, Ga.
"It's the war without end."
"I came to speak out against U.S. support of Israel," said Gabrielle Smith
of Marietta, Ga. "I wanted to voice my dissent against the U.S. government's
supposed war against terrorism. We can't go around killing everyone who
disagrees with us and making enemies in the process."
Morning protests began separately behind the White House, near the
Washington Monument and across from the World Bank. Shortly after noon, the
crowds merged for a march up Pennsylvania Avenue to a mass rally near the
Capitol. 
In front of the barricaded IMF and World bank buildings, the chant was "Hey,
hey! Ho, ho! IMF has got to go!"
Amid the throngs was a 9-metre Earth balloon with a sign reading, "For
Sale." Protesters walked around on stilts and played drums. Girls calling
themselves the Radical Cheerleaders of DC danced and shouted political
cheers. 
"It wasn't going to be this big," said Jeff Bale, a tactical planner for the
Mobilization for Global Justice, which led the IMF protests. "It just
happened that all these groups were going to protest this weekend, so we
planned it together."
Although the U.S. Park Service and District police do not issue official
crowd counts, Police Chief Charles Ramsey estimated 35,000 to 50,000
demonstrators were on the streets.
A much smaller group demonstrated in support of U.S. foreign policy and
against the demonstrators.
"USA: Love It or Leave It (Take Alec Baldwin, Phil Donahue and Cynthia
McKinney)" read one of their banners. "No Tear Gas Necessary. We Are
Conservatives," said another.
The two groups of marchers passed peacefully on streets lined with police.

GRAPHIC: Photo: RICK BOWMER, AP; Rabbi Yisroel Feldman of Monsey, N.Y., and
Eduardo Burkhart of Arlington, Va., (right) march side by side for peace
during demonstrations in Washington against globalization, U.S. policy in
the Mideast and other issues.

LOAD-DATE: April 21, 2002