Protesters hit Canada's streets 1,000 march on U.S. consulate in T.O. on 3rd anniversary of war
By SARAH GREEN, TORONTO SUN
The war at home
Anti-war demonstrators pack the street outside the U.S. consulate on University Ave. yesterday. (Ernest Doroszuk, sun)Ken Stone was arrested outside the U.S. consulate on University Ave. at a 1969 protest against the Vietnam war.
Nearly 40 years later the 59-year-old Hamilton man was outside the consulate again yesterday protesting against another U.S. war.
"It's frustrating," said Stone, one of more than 1,000 protesters yesterday marking the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. "The system hasn't changed. If anything, it's gotten worse."
'THE DOGS OF WAR'
Stone was joined in the late winter chill by a new generation, his 30-year-old son, Danny. One of Stone's three dogs wore a shirt warning, "Don't unleash the dogs of war on Iran."
The demonstration -- similar protests were held in cities across Canada and around the world -- became a call for peace with placards urging Canada to pull its troops out of Afghanistan while praying for the release of three aid workers held hostage in Iraq, including two Canadians.
Members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams held giant photos of James Loney, Harmeet Sooden and Norman Kemper, who were last seen in a Feb. 28 video released by kidnappers. The body of a fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, 54, was found in Baghdad over a week ago.
"We continue to hope and pray against hope it seems," said Lee McKenna duCharme as the protest began.
"There has been way too much bloodshed in Iraq," said Douglas Pritchard, also of Christian Peacemaker Teams. "Now the blood of our colleague has been added to that river."
Patrick Hart, a former U.S. Army sergeant who fled to Canada last August with his wife and son, told the crowd he is often called a coward for his decision.
"It takes a lot more courage to run away from a war than it does to participate in a war," said Hart, 32, who served in the army for nearly 10 years and could face 30 years in prison for deserting.
He served in Kuwait in 2003-04 and he would have been shipped to Iraq if he stayed. "I'm not anti-American, I'm not anti-soldier -- I'm anti-Bush," Hart said.
There was a minor confrontation between demonstrators and Fred Bracken and his friends, who waved American flags in support of U.S. President George Bush and the troops overseas.
Antiwar protesters were on the streets of cities across the country.
BITTERLY COLD
Close to 700 demonstrators braved bitterly cold weather in Montreal to march through the city's downtown.
In contrast to the bitter eastern weather, warm, sunny skies helped attract around 2,000 people to Vancouver's rally.
Dozens of organizations, coalitions and groups, ranging from the B.C. Teachers Federation to the Raging Grannies, gathered at the Seaforth Peace Park and marched downtown to assemble in front of the art gallery.
Several hundred protesters marched through downtown Halifax before gathering at a park to listen to speeches and live music, including American musician Michael Franti.
"(The Americans) are no good, and we want them out," said Yezin Al-Qaysi, a high school student who left Iraq with his family and came to Canada during the Gulf War.
And in Ottawa, about 80 demonstrators, mostly young people, gathered about two blocks from Parliament Hill and later at the National Gallery to protest against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They shivered in flurries and a wind chill of -16C, beating drums, waving placards and chanting: "Peace now. End the occupation."
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