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AP. 15 March 2003. Anti-war demonstrators march toward Jefferson Square Park. SAN FRANCISCO -- Under a cloud-spotted sunny sky, thousands of protestors have gathered in San Francisco to voice opposition to a new war on Iraq. The crowd is marching toward Jefferson Square Park, where speakers include San Francisco supervisor and mayoral candidate Tom Ammiano, actors Danny Glover and Martin Sheen, state Assembly majority leader Wilma Chan, D-Oakland, and musician Michael Franti of the group Spearhead. Among those assembled today is a group calling themselves Veterans for Peace, which represents former U.S. military members now opposing a war with Iraq. Eric Johansson, a former Army paratrooper and infantryman, has voiced his opposition to the war since the movement began gathering steam early this fall. He said that attaching a patriotic message and using a mainstream pro-peace message has helped his group grow in numbers. Modesto Fernandez, a former army reservist, said, "When we take our oath, we take an oath to defend our country. There's a reason we have a Department of Defense and not a war department." Another former serviceman, the Rev. Fred Merrick, now works as a chaplain at the Veteran's Administration Medical Center in San Francisco. He said today that almost 100 percent of the 100 to 200 patients he speaks with weekly are against the war on Iraq. "The veterans out there, our patients, are almost unanimous about being against going to war in the Middle East," he said. Merrick said he was part of the anti-war movement in the 1960's, but joined the Navy to help pay for his education and served in Vietnam. "Our experience in Vietnam should never be repeated. What I see today is George Bush trying to lead us down the same path to disaster," he said. San Francisco police said that so far there has been no reported violence associated with today's protest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ProletarianNews http://www.utopia2000.org with photos --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^================================================================
