PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Tens of Thousands in D.C.
by R. Workman Saturday, Oct. 26, 2002 at 9:28 PM

Discusses atmosphere of Anti-War rally and march

About 200 Pittsburghers travelled to D.C. on 10/26 to participate in the ANSWER-led rally and march. The crowds of protestors were the largest that this reporter has ever encountered, probably 100,000 or more. While the crowd applauded the speeches of Jesse Jackson, Ramsey Clark, and Cynthia McKinney, there was a small parallel gathering around a drum circle where some anarchists, anarcho-syndicalists, anti-authoritarians, and others were converging, away from the left-wing political sects hawking their newspapers near the crowd.

The Drummers for Korean Unification did a spectacular job of firing-up the crowd, with their sound and visual presentation, and Billionaires for Bush kept the crowd loose. Much of the early police activity focused on keeping the protestors separated from the scant number of counterprotestors.

While there had been a few calls for a black bloc, only a small number of black-clad people could be seen participating in the march. Most anarcho-syndicalists, Wobblies, and black blockers stuck together, towards the front-end of the march. This militant image was in sharp juxtaposition to parents with kids in strollers, those calling for "Regime Change" by voting, and the large number of signs invoking the memory of Senator Wellstone.

The march went off as planned, and was quite tame. Some activists noted that the police did not seem to anticipate any deviations, and there was a straight-line open to march on the Capitol Building. However, no splinter marches were apparrent.

Toward the end of the march, the police decided to show their muscle, and were herding people out of the street and onto the sidewalk. Aside from a few groups on Constitution Ave. shouting "Whose streets? Our Streets!," the streets were cleared around 5:30pm.

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