Anti-war protests in Washington

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, SEPT. 30. Hundreds of protesters walked through the streets of Washington shouting slogans against possible U.S. military retaliation for the terrorist attacks of September 11 on New York and Washington.

Originally, this weekend, Washington was to have been witness to at least 100,000 demonstrators protesting against globalisation. The protests were to be against the backdrop of the scheduled annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

With the meetings first truncated because of the feared violence and disruptions and later cancelled because of the terrorist attacks, the numbers dwindled to the ``hundreds'', the determined ones coming to protest not globalisation but cautioning the Republican administration against going to War.

Officially, 11 people have been arrested and two injured in fights with the police; and authorities described the various marches as by and large peaceful. The organisers said that as many as 25,000 came; but police put the figure closer to 7000.

An organised counter-protest to the planned demonstrations had been cancelled and the authorities made sure that the two groups did not meet. But few members who did show up along the protest route were holding placards saying, ``peace through victory, not surrender''.

The ``anti-war'' march and protests on Saturday took place at a time when the approval rating for the President, Mr. George W. Bush, continues to be 90 per cent. By overwhelming margins, Americans are saying that the country's response to terrorism has to be serious and are favouring military action to capture Osama bin Laden even if the operation meant taking casualties.

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Section  : International
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