Massive Anti-War Protest Marched on the DNC Wednesday

by Rob Walker | August 28, 2008 at 09:20 am

843 views | 23 Recommendations | 19 comments

A group numbering up to 14,000 people at its height and led by about 50 uniformed members of the Iraq Veterans Against the War. The group ignored the demonstration rules and did not have a permit, but snuck through police patrols and met at the gates of the Democratic National Convention.

They say their efforts were worth it, as they were able to get a meeting with the staff of Barack Obama. The protesters were led by rockers Rage Against the Machine, all carrying signs and chanting slogans.

Once the massive group arrived at the DNC, guards locked the gates to the Pepsi Center and walked away. About 20 war veterans and 1,000 protestors remained at the gates. That number was down from what police estimated was about 3,000 to 3,500 people. Organizers had ballparked the size of the march at 12,000 at its height.
The veterans' mission was to deliver a letter to Sen. Barack Obama, requesting an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. They also wanted full health care benefits for returning troops and veterans, and reparations to the Iraqi people for damage caused by the war. A copy of the letter had been mailed to Obama's office on Monday.

Reid Neureiter stepped atop the podium and held the microphone tight between his hands.
"Are there any delegates – anyone, anywhere – that can hear us?" the Dallas native and Denver attorney bellowed, alone but for his son and son's friend in a caged-in, empty parking lot some 47,000 square feet large. "Surely, someone can hear me behind these double iron fences? Tell your politicians that this is a travesty of the First Amendment."

A month after whipping the crowd at Lollapalooza into a near-riotous frenzy, a strange thing happened during the Rage Against the Machine protest show on Wednesday (August 27) in support of Iraq Veterans Against the War: Things were downright ... peaceful. And, as of 7 p.m. Mountain Time, they stayed that way as several thousand protesters gathered in the shadow of the Pepsi Center, where President Bill Clinton was about to address the Democratic National Convention.

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Heritage

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 10:44 on August 28th, 2008

Rob Walker, I like this story. It's good stuff.

René

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 10:48 on August 28th, 2008

Rob Walker, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Karen Hatter

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 11:50 on August 28th, 2008

Rob Walker, I like this story. It's good stuff.

SOLARLIFE

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 12:35 on August 28th, 2008

Rob Walker, I like this story. It's good stuff. A long time, we heard of protesters

joshmishell

at 15:41 on August 28th, 2008

I don't think there were 14,000 people marching. I'd estimate it more like 3,000. But it was interesting to watch them pass. Thanks for using my photos.

Nutz McAlister

at 15:57 on August 28th, 2008

I saw the march pass by from my parking garage at 20th & Arapahoe. I had just gotten off work. Walking to the garage, i started to see a lot of cops in riot gear gathering around the intersection, and a ton of flashing lights a few blocks north. So, i grabbed my camera and went up into the garage to get a better view. It was quite impressive to see that many people sending a loud, and clear message to the government, peacefully. The police presence was also pretty impressive, there were about 300 bicycle cops running the length of the march. I didn't find out that the members of Rage Against The Machine were holding the banner at the front till latter in the evening. Awesome sight to see.

Nutz McAlister has contributed a photo to this story.

dgrinbergs

at 16:24 on August 28th, 2008

These photos are of the folks that disrupted Tuesday's Backbone Campaign Procession for the Future rally at Civic Center Park.

dgrinbergs has contributed a photo to this story.

dhgatsby

at 16:52 on August 28th, 2008

We brought my 9-month old daughter downtown to experience "history." Basically this meant taking in all the sights on the 16th Street Mall from the absurd, pathetic, graphic abortion protestors, anti-war mongers, and sometimes just a 6-person protest of whatever-they-woke-up-feeling-rebellious- against-that-day. We took pictures of the DNC signage and people watched. It was truly experiential. We caught this photo of some young guys selling these paper glasses with the words BULLSHIT cut out. They were advertising the glasses' moniker "See through the bullshit." Very creative. The city is extremely energized like I have never seen it before....and probably like I will never see again.

dhgatsby has contributed a photo to this story.

TheFlip

at 18:00 on August 28th, 2008

It was absolutely insane...the protesters were peaceful, but it was like....like....a wave. A hoard of people just moving...no one stopped. They were all focused on one goal, and it was pretty awesome and amazing to see people joined together like that. Whether you're a democrat or not, you have to give it up to these people.

TheFlip has contributed a photo to this story.

thespiegel

at 18:20 on August 28th, 2008

These two guys just walked by each other, not even acknowledging each other. The only contact between them was through their eyes but only for 1 second at the most.

thespiegel has contributed a photo to this story.

derfasaurus

at 19:41 on August 28th, 2008

Much more and better quality here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/justin-fritts/sets/72157606985914730/

derfasaurus has contributed a photo to this story.

Jnelson81

at 22:16 on August 28th, 2008

representing gay pride.

Jnelson81 has contributed a photo to this story.

Billy MacCartney

at 22:42 on August 28th, 2008

This is one of the bikers from Code Pink during the protest on 15th street, two days before the massive protest described in the article. There was an enormous line of police in full riot gear. When Code Pink reached the line of police, they stopped and sang "Give Peace a Chance."

Billy MacCartney has contributed a photo to this story.

Heritage

at 04:50 on August 29th, 2008

Last night I watched the documentary Chicago 10. It's about events surrounding the 1968 Democratic Convention.

In 1968, people were willing to take to the streets to tell the country's leaders, and Presidential candidates, how they felt about the war in Vietnam, civil rights and other key issues. Now, it's time to channel that same spirit of activism and "Speak Your Peace" by voicing your opinion on the issues that are most important to you, getting those around you to register to vote, advocating for voter protection initiatives and most importantly, exercising your right to vote this Nov. 2nd and in every election!

globalpunditorg

at 06:38 on August 29th, 2008

did anyone cover the nader 'open the debate' rally?

was a fresh change from the yakkity yak at the pepsi centre - excepting dennis kucinich's typically great speech...

and i'm including Invesco field in that morass...i was there and have blisters and shots to prove it...

Stephen Swofford

at 10:34 on August 29th, 2008

Just wanted to mention that the protesters didn't "sneak" through police patrols, nor were they led by Rage Against the Machine. They were led by the veterans, who were extremely cooperative with the police and made their peaceful intentions perfectly clear. They announced at one point to the police "We consider you our brothers and sisters, we are peaceful. We don't want to hurt you, and we don't want you to hurt us. If you have to use pepper spray and arrests, we will accept whatever measures you take without resisting."