Rage Against the War in Vancouver
March 21st, 2003
Within hours of the beginning of the US-led war on Iraq, hundreds of
demonstrators gathered at the Vancouver Art Gallery in opposition. The
march through the streets of Vancouver that Wednesday night arrived at the
US consulate building, and the demonstrators expressed their rage at the
latest US imperialist attack. Later that night a rock was thrown which
smashed a window at the US consulate building.
The next day, Thursday, March 20, hundreds of students walked out of
classes, marched around their campuses and then boarded busses to head
downtown to the US consulate. Throughout the day groups of students marched
around the city and at one point sat down in front of a Canadian Armed
Forces Recruitment Centre.
Two fights broke out during the day outside the US consulate over American
flags. In the morning a man drove by in a car waving an American flag and a
demonstrator grabbed it and threw it on the ground. The man got out of his
car and a scuffle broke out as cops intervened and demonstrators tugged on
the flag. Eventually the flag was grabbed and taken away. Later on, as
demonstrators attempted to burn US and UK flags, "peace activists"
violently assaulted the demonstrators, pushing and pulling, and grabbing
the flags. At an anti-war rally later that night demonstrators managed to
climb on a platform and burn the US and UK flags to the cheers of the
crowd. A picture of George Bush was burned in effigy as the crowd chanted,
"burn Bush burn!"
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/03/21/9346885
