Report and Photos of SF Iraq War Moratorium Demonstration 3/19/09

Thursday March 19 was the 6th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. The U.S. led war in Afghanistan has been going on even longer.

At noon on that day, the San Francisco Chapter of the Iraq Moratorium Campaign held a demonstration at Market and Montgomery in San Francisco. The purpose of the demonstration was twofold:

To raise public awareness that these wars are still raging and still costing many U.S. military lives, many Iraqi lives, many Afghan lives, and a mind-boggling amount of money each month.
To support Congressman Barney Frank’s call to cut the U.S. discretionary defense budget by 25%.

Sequence of Events

With Iraq Moratorium activist Bill Simpich serving as emcee, activists displaying peace signs and handing out literature, and about 100 SF police standing across the street, the demonstration proceeded as follows (see photos below):

11:45 am — Traditional and original peace-songs performed by “Mokai”.
11:50 am — Anti-ware poetry reading by Jack Hirschmann, San Francisco Poet Laureate Emeritus.
12:55 am — A reading by Rebecca Solnit, an award-winning San Francisco author, of her peace-related works.
12:00 noon — Bill Simpich explained the goals of the Iraq Moratorium Campaign, including its support for a 25% reduction in the U.S. Defense Dept. budget.
12:05 pm — Inspirational words from Dan Ellsberg, former defense analyst who in 1971 leaked a secret DoD analysis of the US role in the Vietnam war (aka the Pentagon Papers) to the press.
12:10 pm — Iraq Moratorium activists Dolores Perez Priem and Elizabeth Boardman read the names of many U.S. military and Iraqi dead while reporters interviewed Ellsberg and other activists.
12:15 pm — With the reading of war dead continuing, several activists, including Ellsberg and some Iraq War veterans, lay down in Market Street, blocking traffic.
~12:45 pm — Police officers peacefully removed those in the street, cited them for blocking traffic, and released them.
~1:00 pm — Ellsberg and three other activists immediately lay down in the street again and were arrested by the police and taken away. The demonstration ended.
8:00 pm — Those who had been arrested were released and ordered to appear in court Friday morning.
Fri am — In the court hearing, all charges against those who had been arrested were dropped.

The demonstration was entirely peaceful, although the SF Chronicle reported that at one point a non-demonstrator threw something at police officers. No one was hurt.

The Iraq Veterans Against the War held a second demonstration at 5 pm the same day ot SF Civic Center. Activists in that demonstration blocked Market Street for a bit longer than they had at the earlier demonstration (about 45 minutes) and several protesters were arrested.

A big thanks to Elizabeth Boardman, David Hartsough, Barry Hermanson, Kathy Lipscomb, Steve Leeds, Dolores Perez Priem, Bill Simpich, and other members of the Iraq Moratorium Campaign for organizing the event.