"We don't expect it to be anything but peaceful," Ramsey said. The organizers' permit application estimates the crowd at 10,000, but activists have told National Park Service officials they expect as many as 30,000.
Organizers have characterized the war in Iraq as "Bush's Vietnam," describing the invasion and occupation as a bloody, costly political quagmire justified by White House lies and deception. But protesters say they hope to illuminate other issues stemming from the administration's policies, including deep cuts in social programs, increases in military spending and America's emergence as a global empire.
Fliers for a Saturday march and rally sponsored by International ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice are distributed at Howard University.
(Michael Lutzky -- The Washington Post)
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_____Protest Coverage_____
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In D.C., a Diverse Mix Rouses War Protest (The Washington Post, Oct 26, 2003)
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Chunk of Downtown Closed for Weekend (The Washington Post, Apr 12, 2003)
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D.C. Officer on Desk Duty After Allegedly Hitting Protester (The Washington Post, Apr 15, 2003)
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Peaceful Protest Puts Focus Back On IMF (The Washington Post, Apr 14, 2003)
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Supporters Soldier On To Back Bush, Troops And Counter-Protests (The Washington Post, Apr 13, 2003)
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Full Coverage
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They also are using the event to mark the second anniversary of the 2001 USA Patriot Act, the anti-terrorism law that activists and some lawmakers have condemned as an infringement of civil liberties.
The protest is scheduled to begin with an 11 a.m. rally on the Washington Monument grounds at 17th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. A march starting at 2 p.m. will pass the White House and the Justice Department.
Organizers initially had intended to march to the Pentagon but decided against it for logistical reasons and to focus attention on the Bush administration. Separate feeder marches are planned in conjunction with the demonstration, including those organized by Muslim Americans and anti-capitalists.
Black Voices for Peace, a national network of antiwar and civil rights advocates, is holding a feeder march that will begin with a 9 a.m. rally at Meridian Hill Park in Columbia Heights. Damu Smith, 51, the group's founder, said hundreds of activists from the East Coast will take part. "We think it's important to make a very visible statement by blacks in this effort," he said.
The D.C. chapter of a grass-roots conservative group, Free Republic, is holding an 11 a.m. counter-demonstration at the West Front of the Capitol, near the reflecting pool on Third Street. About 1,000 people are expected.
Kristinn Taylor, 41, local co-leader of the group, said the rally will show support for troops overseas. "The biggest thing we want to do is give voice to the good things that have been happening over in Iraq, which we think are not getting out," Taylor said.
Among the many antiwar groups, ANSWER, which stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, is one of the most controversial, enraging critics such as Taylor, who say it is a bastion of communists and anti-Semites. Among hundreds of ANSWER's coalition co-signers, including historian Howard Zinn and city council members from Boston and Berkeley, Calif., are the socialist Workers World Party, the New Communist Party of the Netherlands and the German Communist Party.
ANSWER organizers say the group is made up of activists of all political and religious stripes, and they view attempts to paint the group as anti-American or anti-Semitic as groundless accusations aimed at dividing the movement. "We would never consider excluding organizations or individuals who share our opposition to this war," Becker said.
Staff writer David A. Fahrenthold contributed to this report.
