Posted 11 p.m. Sept. 30 A fleet of police cruisers led waves of protesters through Adams Morgan Sunday on the second day of the weekend’s demonstrations against U.S. military retaliation for Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Metropolitan Police Chief Charles Ramsey led the procession of hundreds of protesters mixed with D.C. residents and visitors. The march began and ended at Meridian Hill Park at 16th and Euclid streets, past popular hangouts such as dance club Felix, Pizza Mart and Madam’s Organ.
Local residents and shop owners lined the streets to watch the parade of protesters, who flashed peace signs to observers, handed out bread and chanted "Food! Medicine! For the people of Afghanistan!"
Blocks away, D.C. residents lunched on patios in a quiet pierced only by the buzz of helicopters overhead monitoring the marches.
Nine GW Action Coalition members joined the march, organized mostly by the Washington Peace Center.
Senior Dan Calamuchi, a GWAC member, said protesters marched through D.C. neighborhoods Sunday rather than by empty government buildings to be more visible.
Another GWAC member, junior Jessica Farley, said the purpose of the march was to encourage the country not to rush to war and violence, as she said the U.S. government has in the past.
"We are calling for peace and the end of racism," junior GWAC member Eleiza Braun said.
Braun said many D.C. universities in the Student Peace Action Network demonstrated to stop the government from retaliating to terrorist attacks with military action.
Protesters gathered at the park at about 11 a.m. with signs reading "Stop the Cycle of Violence," "Eight Million Afghan Refugees Need Food Now, Not War and Terror," "Support the International Criminal Court" and "No More Eye for an Eye."
Washington Peace Center Coordinator Mariana Ramos began the rally and said these groups came together as a local community to "say no to war."
The Washington Peace Center, founded in 1963, is a D.C.-based activist group advocating non-violent social change, Ramos said.
Metropolitan Police Chief Charles Ramsey led the procession of hundreds of protesters mixed with D.C. residents and visitors. The march began and ended at Meridian Hill Park at 16th and Euclid streets, past popular hangouts such as dance club Felix, Pizza Mart and Madam’s Organ.
Local residents and shop owners lined the streets to watch the parade of protesters, who flashed peace signs to observers, handed out bread and chanted "Food! Medicine! For the people of Afghanistan!"
Blocks away, D.C. residents lunched on patios in a quiet pierced only by the buzz of helicopters overhead monitoring the marches.
Nine GW Action Coalition members joined the march, organized mostly by the Washington Peace Center.
Senior Dan Calamuchi, a GWAC member, said protesters marched through D.C. neighborhoods Sunday rather than by empty government buildings to be more visible.
Another GWAC member, junior Jessica Farley, said the purpose of the march was to encourage the country not to rush to war and violence, as she said the U.S. government has in the past.
"We are calling for peace and the end of racism," junior GWAC member Eleiza Braun said.
Braun said many D.C. universities in the Student Peace Action Network demonstrated to stop the government from retaliating to terrorist attacks with military action.
Protesters gathered at the park at about 11 a.m. with signs reading "Stop the Cycle of Violence," "Eight Million Afghan Refugees Need Food Now, Not War and Terror," "Support the International Criminal Court" and "No More Eye for an Eye."
Washington Peace Center Coordinator Mariana Ramos began the rally and said these groups came together as a local community to "say no to war."
The Washington Peace Center, founded in 1963, is a D.C.-based activist group advocating non-violent social change, Ramos said.
