Well, of course, it wasn’t actually like nobody came, but the crowd at today’s International Day of Action on the 6th Anniversary of Iraq War had an unexpectedly low turnout, even considering the spates of rain. Was the crowd “massive,” as indicated by the San Francisco Chronicle? No, not at all. Do some people at the Chron have a “massive” problem estimating crowd size? Yes, apparently.
Did 4000 people march? No. Did at least a couple thousand march? No. Not to belabor the point, but you don’t need to hire a helicopter to accurately estimate the size of a march. Moving on…
Where’s Waldo? Sadly he wasn’t there. But, where’s Code Pink and the Black Block? Click to expand and you’ll find them. This was the bulk of the crowd just after the speakers stopped speaking, with the insular International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) camera left, out of frame.
So yes, there were other groups around the Ferry Building area but they were much smaller. Oh, here’s Code Pink:
One of the speakers was a San Francisco Chronicle employee(!) From her, the crowd learned that “health care is free and will always be free in Cuba.” She urged listeners to defy the current ban on travel to Cuber by visiting this year, specifically July. O.K fine.
Heading up Market Street in light, on-again-off-again rain:
And here’s el bloque negro:
The 911 Truth crowd was there as well – it handed out varying denominations of Truth Bucks, sadly disintegrating in the wet.
A terrorist is “what the big army calls the little army.”
“Jail Greedy Bankers”
“Queer Israeli” vs. “Queer Palestinian”
Speaking of which, you had a good 50 or so counterprotesters with Israeli flags penned in right in front of City Hall.
The Green Line of Polk Street. There was a scuffle between these groups later on, resulting in a handful of arrests. See the “Footage of Chaos,” if you want.
This green-hatted NLG “observer,” avec “Specs” brand goggles, was briefly enthralled by an exchange between the blonde and the cop, who wanted her to stay on the sidewalk. She could probably get the Lieutenant for battery and maybe even false imprisonment, if he weren’t an on-duty, uniformed peace officer. See? There’s always a catch…
So there you have it.
Tags: 2009, 6th, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, Afghanistan, anniversary, answer, arrests, bitten, black block, civic center, coalition, code pink, codepink, cops, Embarcadero, invasion, iraq, israel, jusitn herman, Labor Against the War, march, market, National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars , national lawyers guild, nlg, observer, officer, palestine, parade, peace, plaza, police, Progressive Democrats of America, rock, San Francisco, SFPD, street, U.S., Veterans for Peace, war
Supposedly Zombie is not covering this one. Thanks for the public service.