Avoid downtown today. Hopefully, it will be a couple hundred, and not thousands.
Thousands expected for protest marches downtown
SEATTLE - Thousands of demonstrators are expected to march through downtown Seattle on Monday afternoon to show their opposition to the war in Iraq, which is now 4 years old.
Traffic in the city may be delayed as two large groups plan to march through the city to the Federal Building at 915 Second Ave.
The group Jobs With Justice plans to gather at the Federal Courthouse at 3 p.m., and the Troops Home Now Coalition is expected to march from Westlake Park.
Metro Transit officials said they will try to maintain regular bus routes, but advised riders to expect long delays. If major streets are blocked, buses that usually travel on Second and Fourth Avenue may be rerouted to Third Avenue.
Sunday also saw large groups showing their opposition to the war in Iraq. Protesters gathered at Westlake Park in the city's shopping district and marched through downtown streets. Some called loudly for an end to the war, while some quietly prayed for peace.
Among them was Joe Colgan, who said his son Benjamin was killed by roadside bomb during his 2003 tour of duty. "His service and his death had nothing to do with protecting our freedom or promoting democracy," he told the crowd.
The protesters spent about an hour marching the downtown streets under tight police supervision. The crowd marched peacefully, but at least one man was arrested for allegedly taking a swing at a counter-protester.
"He threw water at us," said Mark Riopelle, the counter-protester. "He punched me in the shoulder and I like, I fell over to the side."
Riopelle was one of just a handful of counter-protesters that were present. But another counter-protester, George Bentley, said that will soon change.
"I'm one voice today, but we are getting louder and louder everyday," he said. |
